Be part of building a new Ireland

Local Government Election Manifesto 2009

People’s
patience and belief in politics and politicians have been sorely tested
by the scandalous mismanagement of the economy, decades of unchecked
corruption and by the fact there has been little difference in the
policies implemented by the main parties – Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in
particular.

‘Why Vote Sinn Féin?’

For
decades, Sinn Féin elected representatives have provided the highest
quality of leadership and advocacy for their local communities. They
are known for their dedication, for integrity and ethics, for
innovation and for delivering change to the communities they
represent. And we take the public trust embodied by your vote very
seriously.

But when you vote Sinn Féin it is more than an
endorsement of a particular individual. You vote for a vision of how
things could be different. How things could be better for you and
your family in your local area. We know that not all communities are
treated equally in this country and not all people are treated equally
within their communities. We want to change all that.

The
mismanagement of the economic boom is now apparent for all to see.
And every day you live with similar impacts from the neglect and
mismanagement of local government – whether it’s ongoing water crises
in Galway and Clare, the commuter bottlenecks caused by inefficient
transport provision from Navan to Dublin, the broken and dangerous
roads in country areas, the lack of support for those trying to create
new jobs and set up enterprises within their own communities, the high
level of rates local business are forced to pay as cash strapped local
authorities seek to raise funds in one of the only ways they are
permitted, the developments left unfinished or planned without access
to essential local services, the one in seven homes that remain empty
while tens of thousands remain on housing waiting lists state-wide, or
the areas in every city and county where children still don’t have a
safe place to play.

But good decisions in local government
can make a positive difference in your daily life. Imagine electing
someone who will fight for the services your community deserves and has
a right to. Who is committed to work with local entrepreneurs, trade
unions, farmers and fishermen to create new jobs and make every
community’s economy vibrant again .

Who will stand up to the
big developers and landlords and do everything possible to ensure that
everyone in your community has a decent place to live. Who is willing
to hold the local Gardaí accountable for making your community safer.
Who will ensure that you have the opportunity to participate directly
in decisions that affect you and your family.

People need
to exercise maximum control over their daily lives. This is true of
Ireland as a nation and it is true of its local communities. Distant
decisions, inappropriate, inefficient and ineffective one-size-fits-all
‘solutions’ must become a thing of the past. Strategic coordination
and minimum standard-setting is important. But to be genuinely
effective, planning and service delivery must be guided by local
knowledge. Communities must be freed and empowered to each realise
their unique potential.

So Sinn Féin is about building and
leading sustainable, strong, mobilised, healthy, prosperous and dynamic
communities where no individual is left behind. And we are about
building a national network of such communities, based on equality,
such that no community is left behind.

And that is what I am asking you to vote for when you vote Sinn Féin on June 5 th . Bígí linn.

A
major transformation of local government including increased
councillors’ powers to include appropriate local control over the
provision of services including greater local control over budgets and
financing of local government, including the ability to collect tax
revenue.

Reform the structure of
local government to make it more accountable – including directly
elected Chairs and Mayors who would assume many aspects of the council
management oversight role.

Review the powers and functions of
Regional Assemblies and Regional Authorities and introduce direct
elections to these bodies. Empower them to develop, implement and
oversee coordinated regional policies.

Build towards Irish Unity
by increasing local, regional and cross-border coordination and
integration of council work in development planning and service
provision.

Local Government Finance

Demand the accountable, efficient and effective spending of local authority finances.

Adjust
local service and procurement contracts to create a level pitch for
local businesses by breaking tenders into segments, allowing smaller
contractors to efficiently tender.

Oppose privatisation of local authority services and the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Call
for a review of the expenses regime for councillors and Committee
Chairs to eliminate excess and abuse and subject claims to strict
limits and scrutiny.

Oppose the imposition of double taxation through new service charges or user fees for essential public services.

Building Sustainable Communities

Planning

Ensure
community participation and input at pre-planning and planning
enforcement stages and extensive participation during all stages of
County/City/Town/Local Area Development Planning.

Ensure that
planning permission favours the development of sustainable rural
housing and that development levies do not penalise rural dwellers
building family homes, or first-time buyers building modest principal
homes.

Ensure development plans frontload building of community facilities, with onus on the developer.

For
developments of a significant nature, size or scale, demand initial
site notification and notification of any amendments to all resident
within 400 yards of a site.

Hold developers accountable by
systematically imposing substantial, index-linked bonds (refundable in
the event of full compliance with planning conditions).

Housing

Ensure the council sets and meets social housing targets and targets to eliminate homelessness.

Ensure that developers at least meet the full 20% social and affordable housing provision minimum requirement under the law.

Propose
inclusion of a Fire Brigade representative on the Planning
Strategic/Municipal Policy Committee and other planning fora and ensure
that planning decisions take into account emergency access and the need
for sustainable traffic diversions.

Support a single ambulance command and control system for Fire Brigade and HSE ambulance deployment.

Support full North-South cooperation in emergency service provision in border areas.

Recreational Services and Amenities

Ensure
that better use is made of existing civic buildings (including town
halls and libraries) to deliver access to the arts (including music
education and drama).

Ensure that all local authority leases to sports clubs are for multiple use to maximise available amenities.

Ensure
that all development plans for towns with a population of 1,000 or more
include the provision of one-stop recreational centres (including
facilities such as a cinema, bowling alley, swimming pool and youth
café).

Establish clear and fair criteria for public art contracts and ensure local community/artists input into the selection process.

Growing and Spreading Local Prosperity

Economic Development

Propose
a review of the functioning and management of City and County
Development Boards and City and County Enterprise Boards with the
objective of making them more responsive to the needs of local
businesses.

Propose the setting up of one-stop shops to provide business support for small to medium and social enterprise.

Propose
to make unused IDA lands available for purchase by local authorities at
less than current market value (in many cases these lands were sold to
IDA by local authorities and state infrastructure has made them more
valuable) and for local authorities to use these landbanks to provide
low-cost serviced sites for local business start-up incubation units.

Ensure
full application of Retail Planning Guidelines and propose development
of a strategy to support retention of local retailers in local
communities.

Support fair rates and development contributions that help local authorities

Education

Campaign
against education cuts and for significant increases in investment in
education with a focus on ensuring sufficient provision for local
disadvantaged students.

Keep needed local school building and remediation works under review and maintain pressure on the Minister to deliver these.

Oppose
the introduction of third level fees and support reform of the granting
system in a way that truly opens access to third level to students from
low income backgrounds.

Use positions on VECs to advocate a
coordinated approach between the VECs, FÁS and the third level
institutions, to ensure sufficient provision of local training for
sectors that will provide jobs in the coming decades.

Propose that all available public classroom space is optimally utilised at all times, ie. for out-of-hours training for workers.

Childcare

Demand
the scrapping of the fundamentally flawed Community Childcare
Subvention Scheme and fight to keep local community crèches open.

Support
provision or restoration of core funding to good quality childcare to
all local community-based crèches, to ensure equal access for all who
need it.

Require developers to construct childcare facilities in
all new housing developments and transfer these to the ownership of the
local authority upon completion.

Communications Infrastructure

Continue to monitor broadband availability in their local areas and push for 100% connectivity.

Insist
on inspections led by the Department of Communications to verify
private provider claims of connectivity where the local authority has
identified persistent broadband blackspots.

Propose mandatory
telecommunications ducting as a condition of planning permission for
all new significant residential, commercial and public building
developments.

Ensure minimum bandwidth of 7MB/s for all towns with populations of over 5,000 by 2011.

Energy Infrastructure

Ensure
each council investigates the potential for local conversion to,
generation of and public investment in renewable energy.

Ensure
each council adopts a Local Renewable Energy Strategy for incorporation
into the local Development Plan and regularly monitors and reviews its
implementation

Propose preferential planning approval for energy
efficient developments and conversions and for renewable energy
projects where all other standards are also met.

Propose and seek granting support for conversion and retrofitting of all local authority-owned buildings.

Work
with the local VEC to make free retraining opportunities available to
unemployed tradespeople to qualify them as energy rating assessors, or
in the installation of solar, wood-pellet, ground-heating and mini-wind
turbine systems, as well as energy-saving and insulation systems.

Raising the Quality of Life

Community Safety

Fight to establish Joint Policing Committees (JPCs) in all Councils.

Use
their membership of JPCs to influence local policing, with a view to
increasing and ring-fencing the number of community Gardaí and juvenile
liaison officers and to changing rostering and deployment arrangements
so that Gardaí are on patrol in the locations and during the hours that
they are most needed.

Campaign for a coherent strategy to maximise Garda visibility in rural areas.

Demand that all drug-related monies seized by Gardaí or by CAB are channelled into community development initiatives.

Work
to ensure that local councils work together with the Gardaí, the HSE,
education providers and the community and voluntary sector to introduce
real and lasting solutions to crime and anti-social behaviour with an
emphasis on early intervention and prevention.

Promote the
introduction of Good Community Agreements inclusive of all residents
and other stakeholders, 12 month Local Authority Introductory Tenancy
Agreements subject to appeal and robust eviction guidelines.

Healthcare

Replacement
of our current two-tier, inequitable and inefficient healthcare system
with a new universal public health system for Ireland that provides
care to all free at the point of delivery on the basis of need alone.

The
retention and further development of the maximum feasible range of
services at local hospitals and the provision of quality hospital care
for all, regardless of income or geographic location. A halt to the
over-centralisation of hospital facilities and reversal of cutbacks in
services at local hospitals.

Work with communities and healthcare workers to campaign for delivery of the best possible local healthcare services.

Campaign
against health cutbacks, including the HSE recruitment embargo and
against centralisation and privatisation of hospital services.

Propose local public information campaigns to enhance awareness of local mental health and suicide prevention services.

Addiction Services

Provision
of full spectrum addiction services (for alcohol, prescription drugs,
illegal drugs and solvents) for all who need them.

No more addiction treatment waiting lists. Treatment made available as soon as the addicted person is ready for help.

Restriction
on the number and type of outlets where alcohol is sold, the number of
licenses granted and the hours and days of sale.

Work directly
with communities worst-affected by alcohol-related public disorder and
the illegal drugs trade. Lobby for increased RAPID and CLÁR funding
for proven effective prevention resources to disadvantaged areas
hardest hit and where individuals are most at risk.

Campaign with local communities to end the closure of post offices throughout the country.

Campaign to keep An Post as a public asset under public control.

Propose
a Public Service Intervention Order to enable the subvention of post
offices in rural areas along the Western Seaboard region to ensure post
masters’ incomes are brought to the minimum wage as a matter of
priority.

Strengthening Equality and Diversity

Platform for the Irish Language

Support full implementation of the Official Languages Act at local level.

Propose
that each council adopt an Irish Language Promotion Strategy and
appoint an Irish Language Development Officer responsible for its
implementation.

Support the interests of local Gaelscoileanna and
stand with parents and teachers in demanding the retention of Irish
language immersion education.

Ensure development of distinct
Local Area Plans for na Gaeltachtaí, in consultation with
socio-linguistic experts, to both protect the Irish language as a
community language and increase the viability of these areas.

Platform for Women

Support
the adoption and ensure the monitoring of affirmative action policies
to increase hiring and promotion of equally able women in council
employment and in the award of council contracts.

Ensure each
council adopts official policies and guidelines on domestic violence,
in consultation with local women’s support service

Support equal access for all to good quality childcare.

Use
positions on Development Boards to support initiatives promoting
women’s entrepreneurship, including expansion of Women’s Enterprise
Networks.

Platform for Children and Young People

Support
emerging leadership among young people through the establishment of
Youth Councils, to provide a forum for structured consultation and
advice to local authorities.

Ensure all development plans include child and youth amenities to build safer communities.

Ensure that all councils focus on the provision of age appropriate sports and recreational facilities:

Ensure all new builds meet universal design
standards to prevent the need for later adaptation by older residents
experiencing a decline in mobility.

Use membership of Joint
Policing Committees to ensure policing better meets the security needs
of vulnerable older people. Support community-based voluntary schemes
that provide vigilance on behalf of and other supports for, older
people living alone.

Ensure local nursing homes are regularly inspected to guard against abuse and neglect of older people in such facilities.

Platform for People With Disabilities

Ensure each council has a Disability Access Officer to inspect planning applications.

Ensure provision for independent living within mixed tenure estates.

Ensure
new builds meet universal design standards and require planning
applications to include a specific certification to this effect from
the Association of Building Engineers or the Royal Institute of
Architects.

Support the adoption and ensure the monitoring of
affirmative action policies to increase hiring and promotion of people
with disabilities in council employment.

Platform for New Communities

Promote
the inclusion of New Communities in local consultation and planning
processes, ensuring the representation of these communities on local
bodies and inclusion in decision-making.

Campaign to end the unjust Direct Provision System.

Oppose
segregated schooling. Promote local education and childcare provision
more responsive to the needs of New Community children and their
families, including targeted programmes where appropriate.

Platform for Travellers

Promote
the inclusion of Travellers in local consultation and planning
processes, ensuring their representation on local bodies and inclusion
in decision-making.

Ensure full and timely delivery of local Traveller Accommodation Plans.

Promote ongoing and constructive dialogue between local Traveller and settled communities on matters of shared concern.

Republicanism
is about maximising democratic rights. In former times, this meant
campaigning for no taxation without representation and one person-one
vote. In our generation, it is still about the right to Irish national
self-determination, but it is also about promoting meaningful local
democracy and full accountability in public service provision.

What
we have now in this state is local government stifled by limited
powers, underfunding, corruption and a lack of vision. Business in
local government must be done differently. Local councils should be
centres of community innovation and dynamism. They should be engines
for growing and spreading prosperity and equality. They should be
where the community’s best and brightest come together to deliver
responsive services and to solve problems cooperatively, efficiently
and effectively. Moreover council halls and chambers are the property
of the people. Council business affects everyone, everyday. Both
should be inclusive of and accessible to all.

New challenges
from climate change to the global financial crisis show us that the
maxim to think globally but act locally has never been more relevant to
Ireland than in the 21st century. Sinn Féin is ready to step up to the
mark and to lead.

In each area of local policy, we have
identified fundamental changes for which we will campaign, but also
priorities to guide our political action within current local powers
over the lifetime of the next council administrations.

Local Government Reform

Local
government in the 26 Counties has a much narrower range of powers and
functions than most other EU states. There is no real local control
over most essential public services or economic development. This is
bad for democracy and needs to change.

In particular, the current
system effectively prevents communities and their local public
representatives from responding adequately to changes in economic
circumstances, yet help from central level is rarely sufficient. Local
councillors’ roles in policy making are too limited and many very
important decisions are made instead by unelected and unaccountable
Council Managers or by distant Ministers. Indeed, the Minister for the
Environment currently has the power to override the democratic will of
the people and dissolve a local council. All of this in turn
constrains the ability of ordinary people to exert influence over the
decisions that affect them every day.

We need to take control
over matters of local importance back from distant or unelected
decision-makers and put them into local hands.

In the Six
Counties, Sinn Féin is spearheading a comprehensive and progressive
reforming of local government and the widening of local powers and
public accountability for services. What we really need is for this to
become an island-wide reform initiative.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
major transformation of local government, to empower local communities,
increase participatory democracy and otherwise enable the delivery of
planning and public services that correspond to local need.

Increase
councillors’ powers to include appropriate local control over the
provision of services including education, healthcare, policing,
infrastructure, investment and employment, childcare and social
services, as well as greater local control over budgets and financing
of local government, including the ability to collect tax revenue.

Correspondingly
limit Ministers’ powers. In particular, remove the power to dissolve
local councils for failure to agree a budget.

Restore or increase
prior councillors’ powers over planning, housing, transportation and
waste management and correspondingly limit Managers’ powers. In
particular, remove their powers to impose incineration or superdumps
and introduce privatisation of waste management services against the
will of the local council.

Reform the structure of local
government to make it more accountable – including directly elected
Chairs and Mayors who would assume many aspects of the council
management oversight role.

Review the powers and functions of
councils’ Special Policy Committees and Community Development Boards to
ensure that these allow for maximum participation and effectiveness.

Introduce
mechanisms for real community participation in local decision-making
and ensure communities and their representative organisations are at
the very least meaningfully consulted on major decisions affecting
them. Support the establishment of District, Community and
Neighbourhood Councils that can formally link with local authorities.

Review
the distribution of powers and division of labour between
city/town/borough councils and county councils, ensure better
integration through Area Committee work and reverse the unwarranted
transfer of powers from town to county councils.

Review the
powers and functions of Regional Assemblies and Regional Authorities,
and introduce direct elections to these bodies. Empower them to
develop, implement and oversee coordinated regional policies on
planning, environmental protection, economic development,
infrastructure and public service delivery.

Build towards Irish
Unity by increasing local, regional and cross-border coordination and
integration of council work in development planning and service
provision. Use participation on General Council of County Councils,
Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland, Local Authority
Members’ Association and All-Ireland bodies to this effect. Work with
northern colleagues on Cross-Border Corridor Groups to implement
Integrated Area Plans for the three Border Corridor Areas (North West,
Central and Eastern).

Local Government Finance

Underfunding
of local government remains the biggest barrier to local authorities’
delivery of improved services in the communities they represent.
Central government provides some support through the Local Government
Fund and grants for specific initiatives, but the level of finance is
among the lowest in the EU at less than half the EU average. Councils
struggle to balance their meagre budget allocations and inevitably some
essential services suffer.

Meanwhile, again in contrast to
most other developed world counterparts, our local authorities’ powers
to raise additional revenue are limited to the imposition of charges
such as commercial rates, business charges, domestic charges and
development charges and other user fees that amount to stealth taxes.
This means that cash strapped local authorities are often compelled to
introduce or increase rates, charges and fees beyond what would
otherwise be considered reasonable.

For example, whereas
previously local authority infrastructure projects were funded mainly
through government grants, increasingly councils have to produce
matching funds in order to qualify for such support. This policy
effectively discriminates against less prosperous areas and will
further aggravate uneven regional development, since local revenue may
not be available for the capital infrastructure needed to increase
local competitiveness and prosperity.

The ability of local
authorities to fund services is likely to worsen in the time ahead. In
addition to the cuts introduced by central government to deal with the
current Exchequer deficit, the downturn in the construction sector is
already significantly affecting the amount of revenue local authorities
now collect by way of development charges.

All recent
analyses of local government financing agree that the current system is
failing. In particular, a major 2006 report by Indecon International
Economic Consultants concluded that reform is essential and that a
truly sustainable system enabling local authorities to provide services
remains to be established.

These challenging economic times
also demand an end to local financial mismanagement. We need to take
what resources we collectively own and share them out more equally to
make our communities fairer, not less fair.

Sinn Féin wants a
future for local government characterised by increased powers matched
with the increased revenue necessary to deliver needed services. We
need sustainable funding for better local government. This requires
reform of both local government funding and its financial management.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

Make
need the core principle in local government funding allocation.
Central government spending on local government should be determined by
the real needs of communities, the services local authorities are
required to provide and their ability to raise additional revenue in an
equitable manner locally.

Progressively increase the proportion
of central government funding transfers to local government
commensurate with increased powers and service delivery needs.

Increase local authorities’ budgetary control, including greater discretion in the spending of central grant funding.

Phase
out the archaic model of annual budgeting in favour of multi-annual
budgeting based on long-term planning at both local government and
central government levels.

Introduce appropriate local
participatory budgeting mechanisms such as those used successfully in
more than 200 municipalities worldwide, to ensure full transparency and
accountability in setting of rates and charges and in spending.

End
double-charging as a prop to a false ‘low tax’ system. The Commission
on Taxation must bring forward proposals to ensure sustainable and
equitable sources of tax revenue to enable government at all levels to
improve quality and capacity in public services and to deliver the
improvements in infrastructure that are necessary to restore economic
competitiveness and improve quality of life for all.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use
the powers of elected representative oversight – including membership
on Finance Special/Municipal Policy Committees and republican value for
money criteria – to demand the accountable, efficient and effective
spending of local authority finances.

Ensure that local public
procurement (both current and capital and whether contracted-out or
not) not only achieves value for money by conventional measures, but
that winning bids are in full compliance with tax laws and
environmental regulations, as well as labour law and good practice in
areas including health, safety, equality, trade union recognition and
collective bargaining.

Adjust local service and procurement
contracts to create a level pitch for local businesses by breaking
tenders into segments, allowing smaller contractors to efficiently
tender.

Oppose privatisation of local authority services and
the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). These do not represent
value for money since they result in public revenue foregone and also
place a long term cost on local authorities that will eat into future
budgets. Support local authorities’ return to the conventional
tendering process.

Call for a review of the expenses regime for
councillors and Committee Chairs to eliminate excess and abuse and
subject claims to strict limits and scrutiny.

Support the
exercise of wage restraint at the top grades within local authority
management and work with the local representatives of public sector
workers to oppose service cuts and ensure fair pay and conditions.

Oppose
the imposition of double taxation through new service charges or user
fees for essential public services. Instead fully investigate other
possible sources of local public revenue.

Press
for consideration of the application of commercial rates based in part
on the ability of businesses to pay – for example highly profitable
businesses should be expected to pay more.

Ensure that local authorities are enabled to recoup the full costs of providing services to non-principal private homes.

Ensure
that revenue raised through the introduction of any further
environmental levies designed to reduce the production of waste or
pollution (similar to the plastic bag levy) augment local government
funds.

Press for review of the requirement for matching local
funding for infrastructural projects, to address the concern that
certain local authorities are unable to progress with much needed
infrastructure that would help build prosperity and competitiveness
because they do not have the ability to raise matching funds.

Building Sustainable Communities

Too
many communities suffer as a result of bad planning. Too many people
don’t have adequate or affordable housing – indeed an increasing number
are homeless or living rough. This state shames the Irish people with
its poor environmental record in the EU – with its contaminated water,
its high carbon emissions, its far below average recycling
infrastructure.

What we need are communities that are
well-planned, that provide good shelter for all, that respect and
protect the environment. Without these solid foundations, no community
can improve its quality of life, much less genuinely prosper.

Sinn
Féin is therefore committed to building a national network of
sustainable communities that achieve these goals. This is at the heart
of our political programme at local government level and we will use
existing planning, housing, environmental protection and waste
management powers in the councils to this end.

Planning

Good
planning makes all the difference to community and family life.
Responsible, ethical and sustainable planning, underpinned by equality
considerations, is the right of all who live in Ireland.

Yet
current Government policy favours wealthy developers, speculators and
landowners over the rest of us. This has resulted in corruption and
bad planning decisions and we cannot allow this to continue.

We
have all come across bad planning in the areas where we live and work.
It denies us proper housing, schools and other public services and
shopping, play and leisure facilities. It undermines public safety and
a healthy environment. It can destroy whole communities and even cost
lives.

One effect of bad planning in combination with the
housing crisis is that average and lower-income first time buyers have
been pushed into so-called commuter towns that are poorly serviced by
transportation infrastructure and childcare services – both of which
are necessitated by long commutes for employment. Property developers
must not be allowed to build new housing developments without taking
into account the need for provision of basic facilities and amenities.
At the same time, rural people have a right to build principal homes on
their own family’s land and contribute to the regeneration of their own
community. This can benefit all by reducing demand for and pressure on
sub/urban housing.

To thrive as sustainable, all
communities require essential physical and social infrastructure. Sinn
Féin has developed ‘Sustainable Communities Criteria’ based on the
delivery of economic and social rights. All planning decisions must
meet these criteria before earning our support.

Sinn Féin Sustainable Communities Criteria

Each community must have reasonable local access to the following:

a sufficient supply of social and affordable housing, in mixed areas

safe water supply and adequate sewerage

public transportation

employment

healthcare centres

childcare centres and schools

and reasonable access to local amenities such as:

shopping

public play and recreation areas

sports and leisure facilities

social and community centres, including youth cafés

cultural centres including libraries and museums, performance and exhibition spaces.

Direct
community involvement in the planning process can provide an additional
safeguard against corruption and bad planning. Local people are often
better placed to inform decisions on community planning and management
matters. We believe that many planning mistakes could be avoided if
communities have a greater input in the planning process so that their
needs are accounted for. People also have a right to participate in
planning decisions that affect them. Yet the current system generally
excludes local people from decision-making on planning. We believe
that local authorities should act in partnership with the affected
local communities to ensure that their planning decisions meet the real
needs of the people they represent.

Sinn Féin elected
representatives will use existing and campaign for additional planning
powers to build communities that we all feel safe and proud to live
in. We will work to hold developers accountable and ensure that all
areas have the infrastructure necessary to be socially and
environmentally sustainable and moreover use planning policy to
contribute to community safety, as well as urban and rural
regeneration.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

Long-term vision developed through a 10 year planning cycle with 3 mid-cycle reviews, commencing in 2011.

Accountability
in planning through the establishment of Community Planning Fora as a
permanent mechanism for local consultation and participation.

Extension
and promotion of public Pre-Planning Clinics in every local council –
maintaining a list of accredited local engineers – to offset unequal
access to planning expertise.

Increased staffing for Council
Planning Units to reduce delays, including new out-of-hours Community
Planning Enforcement Officers, funded by a fair levy on developers.

Amendment of the Planning and Development Act to require at least 30% social and affordable housing in every new development.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Take an ethics pledge linked to an Elected Representatives Code of Conduct, as required by the party.

Use
membership on the Planning Strategic/Municipal Policy Committees and
otherwise advocate to ensure community participation and input at
pre-planning and planning enforcement stages and extensive
participation during all stages of County/City/Town/Local Area
Development Planning.

Ensure that planning permission
favours the development of sustainable rural housing and that
development levies do not penalise rural dwellers building family
homes, or first-time buyers building modest principal homes.

Ensure development plans frontload building of community facilities, with onus on the developer.

Target planning
enforcements at big developers and ensure that planning enforcement
resources are not misused on individual planning disputes between
neighbours or insignificant breaches of conditions.

For
developments of a significant nature, size or scale, demand initial
site notification and notification of any amendments to all resident
within 400 yards of a site. Oppose approval for spurious ‘change of
use’ applications (for example, to vary ‘non-viable’ crèches to income
generating private units).

Hold developers accountable by
systematically imposing substantial, index-linked bonds (refundable in
the event of full compliance with planning conditions) as provided for
in the Planning and Development Act and by applying a bar from planning
approval on those who fail to comply which includes both the parent
company and subsidiaries. Ensure that development levies are paid on
the granting of planning permission.

Propose and insist on Irish
names for new roads and estates, reactivate the use of townland names
and ensure that all planning decisions protect our cultural heritage,
including heritage sites.

Housing

First it was
massive year-on-year house price inflation. Now that the housing bubble
has burst, it is the credit crunch. Between these two, owning a home
has never been less attainable for those on low and middle incomes. The
housing crisis in this state may currently be overshadowed by the
economic crisis, but it is no less real. Moreover the economic crisis
if not resolved will only aggravate the housing crisis further, as an
increasing number are now at risk of mortgage default and repossession.

Private
management companies make matters worse where they operate in estates
and apartment complexes. As the sector remains unregulated these
companies can charge extortionate fees and annual hikes of up to 50%
that residents – already saddled with hefty mortgages – have no choice
but to pay.

Those who rent privately are vulnerable to the
approximately one in five rogue landlords who do not comply with
minimum accommodation standards. Some are trapped in genuinely
appalling conditions including rat infestations, dampness and mould,
leaking water pipes and a lack of ventilation. Yet local authorities
mostly fail to exercise with diligence their responsibility for
inspecting all rental accommodation and bringing prosecutions for
violations, at least in part because they lack sufficient resources.
Private tenants affected by the economic downturn are also increasingly
at risk of illegal eviction.

Sufficient social housing
provision solves many of these problems. Yet both the state and local
authorities are failing in their responsibility to step into the
breach.

Although social housing new build has increased in
recent years, provision has not increased to the level required to
cater for the more than 40,000 households who remain on waiting lists
and indeed tenant purchases have depleted the public stock. The
disastrous collapse of the Dublin Public-Private Partnership
regeneration schemes proves that PPPs do not work and government should
fund social housing from now on.

According to the most
recent estimates available, there are approximately 2,400 households
and 5,000 individuals that are homeless. More than 1,700 households
live in unfit accommodation. Over 4,000 households live in overcrowded
accommodation and nearly 3,400 are involuntarily sharing. The number
of individual adults and children affected is of course much greater.
And it is widely understood that these figures significantly understate
the actual situation. Meanwhile, more than one in six private houses
built remain vacant. This represents unconscionable waste in the face
of dire need.

Social housing delivery is a key responsibility
of local councils. Good housing decisions can make a difference.
Delivery of housing for all, as of right, is a major priority for Sinn
Féin and we will use all existing and campaign for additional powers
and resources to help achieve this objective.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
reorientation of housing policy to favour public provision of social
housing and increased provision of cost-price affordable housing.

Public
reporting of an annual local social housing needs assessment, alongside
a report on the status of local housing stock (including local
authority occupied, local authority vacant, local authority vacant but
derelict, voluntary, affordable, vacant private and private rental) and
public reporting of an annual survey of local homelessness.

A
review of all Local Authority Design Guides to establish a state-wide
minimum standard to ensure that each follows best practice.

A new
regulated system for local assessment of social housing need, including
provision for advocacy, multidisciplinary assessment, increased waiting
list transparency and an appeals process.

A new regulated
system for allocation of affordable housing, based on need, including
independent oversight and increased waiting list transparency.

Increased
resources for local authority inspections of rental accommodation, with
a view to ensuring robust enforcement including prosecutions.

Government assistance to those currently at risk of losing their homes due to reckless banking practices, including:

increase of Mortgage Interest Supplement;

a
requirement on banks to take all steps necessary to protect low income
and unemployed people facing mortgage default and home reposession
including rescheduling payments or allowing interest-only payments for
a period of time;

establishment of a new payments scheme for
newly unemployed mortgage holders in which interest payments are
suspended until new employment is found; and

a moratorium on principal home repossessions for low and middle income homeowners until after the recession.

An end to illegal evictions.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use
membership on the Housing Strategic/Municipal Policy Committees to work
with the local Homeless Forum and other housing rights advocacy
partners including Residents’ Associations.

Ensure the council
sets and meets social housing targets and targets to eliminate
homelessness within the Local Authority Housing Strategy and Homeless
Action Plan, including a ringfenced percentage of allocations for
homeless households.

Oppose dependence on private provision of
social and affordable housing under Part V of the Planning and
Development Act in favour of public provision, but also ensure that
developers at least meet the full 20% social and affordable housing
provision minimum requirement under the law. Ensure that such housing
is not clustered but spread throughout new estates. Ensure that
councils purchase all of it, allocate at least 50% for social housing
and sell the remainder as cost-price affordable housing.

Propose the following basket of measures to immediately double social housing output without budgetary increase by:

Extending
the new shared equity scheme to allow local authorities to purchase
housing units on a 50:50 basis in conjunction with the central
government and using this lending capacity to increase social housing
output.

Combining local authority capital and revenue streams alongside government loans to build and acquire more social units.

Ensure full
use of compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers on derelict buildings and
sites, as well as vacant properties and other lands to convert these to
social housing on an accelerated basis.

Ensure at a minimum unit-for-unit replacement of social housing, particularly as part of regeneration programmes.

Oppose
over-concentration/isolation of social housing and ensure housing
provision for people with particular social needs within mixed tenure
estates.

Review the social housing points systems for equity to
all social groups, to ensure fair allocations with preference to those
most vulnerable.

Work to end substandard social housing design
– the prevalence of smaller units, smaller rooms, less garden space,
less soundproofing between units – by ensuring application of the same
design specifications to social housing units as to private housing
units.

Ensure adherence to all housing planning guidelines and
propose state-wide extension of the Dublin Council Guidelines for
Successful Apartment Living, especially for Part V new builds.

Ensure
new builds meet universal design standards, for example as set out by
the Committee for European Standardisation Guidelines and energy
efficiency standards including those set out by Sustainable Energy
Ireland.

Ensure that all local authority-owned properties benefit
from Building Energy Rating (BER) upgrading and promote support for
other sustainability upgrading, including energy efficiency/consumption
reduction schemes and water use efficiency/water harvesting schemes,
including maximum subsidy to low income households.

Ensure that
councils use their full powers of inspection of local rental
accommodation, adhere to inspection and standards guidelines and engage
in robust enforcement against rogue landlords.

Ensure councils
fulfill their own estate maintenance and refurbishment responsibilities
and do not allow public properties to remain derelict.

Oppose
outsourcing of estate management to private companies and renew an
emphasis on/support for Residents’ Associations and cooperative
management of estates.

Environmental Protection and Waste Management

To
say that this state’s environmental record is poor is to understate the
problem. It shows failure to meet carbon emissions reduction targets,
failure to meet waste reduction and recycling targets, failure to
protect boglands and wetlands and other sensitive habitats from
development and exploitation, increased incidence of flooding as a
consequence of failure to protect floodplains from development,
consistent violations of EU standards on water quality. While it is
welcome that all political parties are now committed to
environmentalism at least in word, that is not enough. Robust action
is needed and, as we all know, the best environmental protection starts
at home, in our local communities.

‘Going green’ the
republican way means ensuring that all of us are guaranteed, as a
right, a safe and sustainable environment in which to live and work. We
need to ensure that local authorities fulfil their obligations in areas
for which they are directly responsible and also by making sure that
local businesses and others comply fully with all the relevant
regulations dealing with environmental protection and waste management.

Our
commitment to the devolution of as much power as possible to locally
elected representatives and the community itself is especially
important, as the Government has tended in recent years to remove
powers in this area from local authorities and transfer them to
unelected Managers or to a distant Minister. This has had serious
implications for waste management policy in particular and has resulted
in proposals to build unnecessary incinerators, overdependence on
landfill, the imposition of double taxation service charges for waste
collection and also in illegal dumping.

We believe that
councils need more powers to protect the local environment and that
previous powers to control waste management decisions in particular
must be restored. Sinn Féin will use all existing and campaign for
additional powers to help councils uphold the environmental rights of
all.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

Return
power over waste management to local elected representatives through
enactment of the Sinn Féin Waste Management (Amendment) Bill 2003.

Progressive
movement away from landfill and towards reduction, reuse and recycling,
closure of all unsafe landfill sites and full remediation of
contaminated dumpsites.

Sufficient funding for recycling
infrastructure. Separated waste collection for every home and business
and widespread provision of public recycling amenities.

An
All-Ireland Landfill Levy to apply the polluter pays principle
consistently nationwide and a levy requiring private operators to
subsidise public recycling facilities, street cleaning and other civic
amenities, as well as the combating of illegal dumping.

Repeal of the Strategic Infrastructure Act.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use
membership on the Environment Strategic/Municipal Policy Committees to
work with local communities and other environmental advocacy partners.

Press
all councils to use their Local and Regional Waste Management Plans to
adopt a strategy of achieving Zero Waste through set targets for
reduction, reuse and recycling, by making the necessary local
facilities available and to further support this through minimum waste
procurement decisions.

Oppose incineration or other thermal
treatment and landfill for waste disposal and ensure each local
electoral area has at least one civic amenity site for recycling.

Oppose the privatisation of waste management and the introduction of service charges for waste collection.

Support measures to eradicate illegal dumping, including increased enforcement and penalties.

Ensure that each council adopts a Local Climate Change Strategy.

Support
the adoption of maximum energy conservation and renewable energy
conversion measures. Advocate the use by local authorities of
renewable energy sources, including biofuel, for authority-owned
vehicles and facilities.

Encourage local energy generation from
waste through Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants using biofuel
produced by mechanical-biological treatment or anaerobic digestion, (as
well as energy from other sustainable and renewable sources such as
wind power).

Protect the public interest by supporting the
adoption of local environmental protection measures, in particular
those that protect sensitive wildlife habitats including wetlands and
floodplains and those that ensure sustainable management of natural
resources such as boglands.

Include the community and local
businesses in the environmental protection process through regular
consultation and provision of information.

Ensure their local
authority has joined the Nuclear-Free Local Authority organisation and
propose designation of their local authority area as free of
Genetically Modified (GM) crops, to support Sinn Féin’s objectives of
making Ireland both Nuclear-Free and GM crop-Free.

Delivering Responsive Public Services

Delivery
of public services is the whole reason people willingly pay taxes.
Ensuring that those public services match local need is the reason
people democratically elect their representatives to government and by
doing so entrust in them responsibility for management and oversight.
In return for their hard-earned money and for their vote, people
rightly expect that these services will not only be made available but
will correspond to their actual needs and moreover uphold their and
their children’s equal economic and social rights.

While
local government in this state at present exercises few or no powers in
some areas of public services – such as healthcare, education,
communications, energy supply and community safety – it exercises
considerable control over delivery in others such as water and
sewerage, transportation, fire services and recreational services and
amenities. Where this is the case, it is imperative that local elected
representatives ensure these powers are used responsibly in the public
interest, to ensure the delivery of local services in a way that
responds to local need and peoples’ rights.

Sinn Féin will
campaign for new local government powers to use public services to
uphold the rights to healthcare, to education, to work, to an adequate
standard of living, to safety and to ensure that the provision of these
services meets the needs of our individual communities.

We
will also use existing local government powers over public service
delivery to uphold peoples’ equal rights: to clean water, to access by
transportation, to safety, to leisure and play and to participate in
cultural life.

Water Services

The importance of
responsible water provision is brought into stark relief by the recent
plight of the people of Galway and Clare, who have been periodically
unable to use their domestic water supply for long periods due to
contamination from sewage, lead and other bacterial sources. Sinn Féin
has called for an independent enquiry into the causes of these water
crises and outlined our proposals to prevent recurrence. This should
act as a wake-up call to councils across the state to take water supply
protection seriously and to proactively prevent similar problems
emerging elsewhere.

All people have a fundamental and equal
right to safe water and to its ‘free’ public supply, which is paid for
by direct taxation. That entails ensuring that the water supply is
protected from any threat of contamination and that the provision of
water is retained in public hands to ensure both best management in the
public interest and universal provision regardless of income. This is a
core obligation of government at all levels. It can literally be a
matter of life and death. Moreover businesses and the local economy
suffer when an area develops a reputation for contaminated water – no
one will want to invest or locate in such an area, with its risk of
revenue loss or additional cost.

Unnecessary water waste is
of course another major environmental problem that is primarily caused
by leakage as a consequence of inadequate water infrastructure.
Imposing water charges or water metering to monitor household or
commercial usage is not the answer. Investment in comprehensive
infrastructural remediation is the only way to fully and finally solve
the twin problems of both wastage and contamination. There is no way
around this.

Sinn Féin will use the full extent of our
powers at local level to ensure responsible management of water
services and we will also use our political strength to campaign for
longer term solutions to uphold the right to water.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
comprehensive urgent review of need, driving planned investment in
remediation of water infrastructure in all areas throughout the state.
The outcome must ensure that each and every urban and rural household
has access to a reliably safe public supply of water, the quality of
which complies with or exceeds the highest EU and EPA standards and
delivery of which eliminates or minimises waste through leakage.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use
membership on the Water and Sewerage Strategic/Municipal Policy
Committees and otherwise to ensure that councils are diligent and
proactive in water supply monitoring.

Work to ensure a clean and safe public water supply to all local residents within the council area.

Support the vigorous implementation of all EU and other regulations to ensure that the water supply is safe from contamination.

Support
enforcement of the principle that ‘the polluter pays’ against anyone
responsible for contaminating or failing to protect the water supply.

Call for the introduction of Source Protection Measures for all public and group water schemes.

Ensure
that councils engage in door-to-door public health notifications in
contamination affected areas, arrange for free bottled or otherwise
safe water to residents and lobby for state rebates for additional
electricity use by those under boil water notices and for subsidised
remediation measures where individual low and middle income private
householders require pipe replacement, since people should not have to
pay for failures of the state.

Oppose any attempt to privatise the water supply and fight to keep water treatment plants in public ownership.

Oppose
charges for the use of water, including their imposition on schools and
other non-commercial organisations under the EU Water Directive.
Propose a waiver scheme in the interim.

Support the
implementation of effective strategies to conserve water and reduce
waste and misuse pending structural remediation, such as education and
information campaigns.

Advocate grant support for public water
conservation measures by farmers, including water self-sufficiency and
water recycling for non-consumption purposes.

Transportation Services

Looking
at the state of transportation in the 26 Counties, you would never know
that the Celtic Tiger had come and gone. Both local and state-wide
public transport is still characterised by a lack of availability, lack
of accessibility and a lack of integration between services. Large
portions of a formerly comprehensive rail network were closed down and
much of the rolling stock is still from a bygone era. Many local and
secondary road networks are crumbling and the countryside in particular
is beset by accident blackspots that regularly claim lives. Most
cities and towns also lack adequate provision for pedestrians making it
dangerous to even cross the road, particularly for the elderly, people
with disabilities and those with prams or small children.

Since
so many local developments were planned without consideration for
access to public transport, people now have little choice but to use a
car to participate in normal life. Our cities, towns and suburban
beltways have consequently become car-congested and daily commuting a
nightmare. Despite this and the environmental imperative to reduce
private car dependency to stop climate change, the level of provision
of environmentally sustainable public transport remains woeful.
Indeed, the Irish Government’s grand Transport 21 plan offers nothing
whatsoever to cyclists or pedestrians.

We need to bring
Irish transportation into the 21st century, with comprehensive local
and national networks of sustainable public transport – biofuel or
electric buses, commuter and freight trains, light and ultra lightrail
trams in cities and major towns, a metro in the capital, cycle and
pedestrian lanes, as well as special provision for both taxis and
carpooling. We also need road networks that are sufficient to deal
with volume, safely designed and well-maintained, with effective
traffic management measures to maximise vehicular, cyclist and
pedestrian safety. These are crucial not only to improve quality of
life but also essential for economic prosperity. Yet local authority
powers over transportation and public transportation in particular
remain limited.

Taxi provision is one area where private
transport meets public transport and over which local authorities have
some control. Taxi services are especially important in those areas
that still lack comprehensive public transport by bus, rail and tram.
Sinn Féin opposed the deregulation of the taxi industry and warned of
the ensuing hardship for taxi drivers and their families and we
supported the introduction of the regulation of taxi licensing. We
need more efficient and effective state and local regulation of the
taxi industry in a manner that is compatible with the interests of taxi
drivers and operators and of course that of the travelling public.

Peoples’
rights to work, to education and to public services depend on their
access – hence their right – to transportation and to public transport
in particular. Realising our collective right to a clean and safe
environment also depends on this. We believe that councils should have
more powers to provide and coordinate public transport and should
incorporate transport needs into local and area planning involving all
relevant stakeholders. Sinn Féin will use all existing and campaign
for additional powers to help councils uphold the transportation rights
of all.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

Significantly
greater public investment in public transportation to ensure more
affordable and more frequent service and full public ownership of bus
and rail services.

The re-opening of the rail lines closed in the
mid to late twentieth century and an extensive expansion of an
all-Ireland rail network in the coming decades, including an extended
Western Rail corridor serving Donegal and onwards to a Derry-Dublin
rail link, as well as the restoration of the West Cork railway network.

Increasing
investment to upgrade all bus fleets, including the ancient fleet of
school buses to ensure children can travel safely to and from school
and to increase frequency of service on public routes.

Improved
public transport links to serve all major airports. Public shuttle bus
services to all secondary airports, with schedules that reflect actual
flight times.

Full ticketing and timetable integration between services, including the introduction of smartcards.

All public transport made accessible to those with impaired mobility.

Completion
of the island-wide motorways, including and in particular the Atlantic
Road Corridor from Waterford to Letterkenny as a seamless
dual-carriageway built under public finance.

Air services to link
all airports islandwide, with schedules that reflect the needs of
business commuters. Increased investment in local and regional airport
development.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use membership
on the Transport Strategic/Municipal Policy Committees and otherwise to
ensure that councils use zoning and planning decisions to ensure that
public transport services all populated areas instead of forcing car
dependence on residents and tourists.

Propose the transformation
of local Council Road Departments into ‘Sustainable Transport
Departments’ with a mandate to develop local sustainable
transportation, ensuring full integration of local road and rail
services.

Propose an audit of local unmet public transport need,
focusing in particular on new developments and rural areas, taking into
account changing demographics and increased demand.

Propose to
increase the quantity and standard of park-and-ride facilities and
Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) to make it more attractive to travel by
bus, train or tram than by car. Ensure public shuttle or other bus
services are available from all feeder towns to local train stations.

Take
action to secure the provision of more public buses in rural areas,
support community-based rural transport initiatives, including
demand-responsive dial-up transit and ensure that all local transport
operates to county boundaries and covers entire county.

Ensure
sufficient provision of bus and tram shelters that effectively protect
all public transport users, including schoolchildren, from the elements.

Oppose road tolling as a form of double taxation.

Initiate
local road network accident black spot audits, with the participation
of the local communities affected and ensure that councils take
appropriate traffic management and road maintenance measures to
effectively address findings.

Initiate pedestrian and cyclist
safety audits of all cities, towns and villages and ensure expenditure
concentrated on increasing cycle lanes and provision for pedestrians,
including support for pedestrianised areas of city, town and village
centres where appropriate.

Ensure the provision of sufficient taxi ranks to meet local need.

Ensure provision of recharging points for electric vehicles.

Work with the local representatives of transport workers to oppose service cuts and ensure fair pay and conditions.

Fire and Ambulance Services

Effective
local emergency services are an essential component of community
safety. Fire brigades respond to fires, road traffic accidents,
ambulance calls, flooding, spills or leaks of hazardous substances.
Ambulance teams regularly save lives. Society owes its respect and
gratitude to firefighting and paramedical staff and their
representatives, for their public service and the risks they willingly
take on our behalf.

Communities have the right to expect
effective protection from these services and local authorities have the
responsibility to ensure that these services are well structured,
well-run and receive adequate support. Yet too often local emergency
services are starved of resources, equipment and personnel, are
overstretched and firefighters in particular work without the benefit
of updated fire risk assessments. This puts lives in unnecessary
danger.

Community safety is a key priority for Sinn Féin and
we will work with local emergency service providers and their
representatives to ensure that all local powers are exercised fully to
give them the support they need to do their jobs and make all our lives
safer.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
single Strategic Fire Services Executive to coordinate, administer and
regulate the fire service state-wide and later island-wide, in line
with international best practice.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Consult regularly with the representatives of local emergency service workers.

Propose
inclusion of a Fire Brigade representative on the Planning
Strategic/Municipal Policy Committee and other planning fora and ensure
that planning decisions take into account emergency access and the need
for sustainable traffic diversions.

Propose establishment of Fire
Service Advisory Boards at local level including residents and local
elected representatives to enhance communication and strategic planning
with the local fire authority.

Propose regular regional fire risk
assessments involving the local Fire Brigade/s, firefighters’
representatives, local elected representatives, the HSE and other
stakeholders.

Propose local equipment audits against need for both fire and ambulance services.

Support a single ambulance command and control system for Fire Brigade and HSE ambulance deployment.

Support full North-South cooperation in emergency service provision in border areas.

Recreational Services and Amenities

Over
the last decade thousands of housing estates were built with no
community centres, youth clubs, arts or sports facilities provided.
Many established communities, particularly villages or economically
marginal urban areas, face the same problem. The chronic lack of
facilities for young people in particular, a legacy of bad planning,
has been cited as a contributory factor to depression, drug and alcohol
use and anti-social behaviour amongst teenagers. While recent
improvements have been made in the provision of playgrounds for
children, there is still much that needs to be done. Too many
communities continue to lack library access, or permanent space for
artists and audiences, or for community cultural events. Many
potential historical and recreational amenities that could both serve
local populations and attract tourists remain underdeveloped for lack
of funding or vision.

Involvement in sports, arts and other
recreational activities provides many benefits for both the individual
and the community as a whole. It can enhance personal development and
reduce anti-social activity among young people and provide a social
outlet for adults and older people who might otherwise be prone to
isolation. It can have important benefits for physical and mental
health in all ages and contribute to increasing life chances. As such,
investment in cultural infrastructure reaps broad and long term social
benefits by, for example, reducing pressure on the health system from
lifestyle induced illnesses such as obesity and alcoholism and reducing
demand on Gardaí for policing anti-social behaviour. So even in
recessionary times, such spending makes economic sense.

Local
councils have considerable powers over provision of libraries, parks
and open spaces, swimming pools, recreation centres, the arts, culture,
museums, galleries and other amenities. But their ability to deliver
is largely dependent on available resources and political will.

Local
authorities can and must play a leading role in ensuring equitable
access to public cultural and recreational facilities and amenities.
Everyone, regardless of economic, social or cultural background should
be included and welcome.

Sinn Féin will advocate the full
exercise of all local powers and use our collective strength to lobby
for additional resources to ensure that each community has and that all
within our communities have, equal access to basic public arts, sports,
cultural and recreational services and amenities as of right.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
commitment from central government to put in place the public funding
needed to redress the shortcomings identified in the audit of
community, sports and arts facilities.

Provision of a funding
package for local authorities to deliver community-based music and arts
education projects in disadvantaged communities.

More local
arts capital funding to support development of local arts
infrastructure and for removal of the restrictions on subventions for
temporary arts spaces.

Devolution of powers in respect of sports
capital grants to local authorities in order to reduce bureaucracy and
delays and allow better response to local needs.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Engage
directly with all arts, sports, cultural and community groups to
determine local needs and promote local leadership and participation in
arts and sports and use membership on the Recreation and Amenities
Strategic/Municipal Policy Committees and otherwise to ensure that
councils do the same.

Ensure that better use is made of existing
civic buildings (including town halls and libraries) to deliver access
to the arts (including music education and drama), while also ensuring
that all such facilities are accessible to people with disabilities.

Ensure that all local authority leases to sports clubs are for multiple use to maximise available amenities.

Ensure
that all development plans for towns with a population of 1,000 or more
include the provision of one-stop recreational centres (including
facilities such as a cinema, bowling alley, swimming pool and youth
café).

Ensure fair and transparent allocation of local arts
funding under the Percentage for Arts Scheme, including local
democratic input and a focus on support for local artists and community
arts projects in disadvantaged areas.

Establish clear and fair criteria for public art contracts and ensure local community/artists input into the selection process.

Ensure that all councils focus on the provision of age appropriate sports and recreational facilities:

For
children: a centrally located play ground in each population centre
(village, pre-village/low order settlement and urban development).

For
young people and adults: sports and recreation facilities including
skate parks and tennis/basketball courts, to be provided in existing
open spaces under local authority ownership.

For older people:
outdoor gyms such as that recently developed in Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath
(facilities similar to what exists in other countries including various
equipment designed to improve joint mobility, muscle strength and
increase overall activity levels).

Ensure adequate resources for
the upkeep of parks and open spaces, including the provision of wardens
to ensure maintenance and the safety of those using the amenity.

Ensure
that people on low incomes, particularly young people from low income
families, are not excluded from participation in arts, sports and
recreation due to cost considerations.

Ensure councils use local
arts and sports funding to promote interculturalism, Irish language,
arts and other activities and inclusion of women and people with
disabilities.

Growing and Spreading Local Prosperity

Imagine
a national network of vibrant and prosperous local economies supporting
our communities. And imagine that within these economies there are
enough good quality jobs with fair pay and conditions for all. That
all can access the kind and level of education required to reach their
full potential. That all the necessary infrastructure is publicly
provided – including childcare for workers, transportation,
communications and renewable energy – so that businesses want to invest
and locate and remain. That innovation in business and diversification
of entrepreneurship is supported and fostered. That enterprises need
not turn over massive or even any profits to be valued for their social
benefit to the community and economy, whether that is in employment or
services provided. Prosperity with equality. With no one and no
community left behind. That is the Sinn Féin economic vision and we
will not be deterred.

While local government in this state at
present exercises few or no real powers related to supporting local
economies – such as over economic development, or provision of
education, childcare, or communications infrastructure and energy
supply – local elected representatives are often appointed to other
bodies of relevance: Development Boards, LEADER and Partnership Boards,
Vocational Education Committees, Ports and Airport Authorities and
Harbour Boards and more.

Sinn Féin will campaign for new
local government powers to manage the local economy and to uphold
related rights to education, to work and to an adequate standard of
living. And we will use any and all positions and influence available
to our councillors to help grow and spread local prosperity in a way
that responds to local need and peoples’ rights.

Economic Development

Approximately
four out of five industrial enterprises in this state are small firms
employing less than 50 people. Moreover, 95% of small industrial firms
are Irish-owned and likely to stay put if they can survive, while
almost half of all larger firms are foreign-owned and therefore just as
likely to relocate due to factors beyond Irish control. Despite
providing the bulk of Irish employment, small to medium firms receive
the least state investment. This is both unfair and economically
unwise. Councils could play a much bigger role in providing help and
support for this kind of enterprise and thereby help keep both business
and jobs local.

The ‘National Development Plan’, with all its
important commitments to build infrastructure essential for prosperity,
must be implemented in full if local economies are to grow, attract and
retain businesses and further investment. Yet local authorities have
no real control over its content or progress.

For all its
granting support that has benefited local communities, the EU also
imposes significant constraints on the ability to grow local economies
and create conditions that foster local prosperity. For example, EU
state aid rules restrict government’s ability to inject assistance. EU
Directives aimed at privatising public services are pressuring councils
to let private operators run essential local authority services that
benefit businesses as well, such as waste collection and water
provision. A number of councils have fought back against this trend and
continue to provide excellent services themselves. But where they have
failed to do so and services have been privatised, businesses and
domestic users face higher charges, arbitrary price increases and
service cutbacks. This does not help.

Precisely because
central government refuses to provide adequate funding to local
authorities based on need, councils have become reliant on alternative
income from local businesses including commercial rates, development
levies and other charges. We agree that businesses should pay their
fair share back into local communities but the wide variance in rates
and charges from one council to the next is aggravating unequal
development. Companies naturally search for the ‘cheaper’ local
authority areas – that is, those that can charge less because they are
already more economically robust and better serviced. Weaker local
economies are thereby locked into a low-income,
low-service/infrastructure, low-growth cycle from which they cannot
escape.

Quite simply, local authorities are hamstrung by
their lack of powers to support local economies and local businesses.
Local councils should act as an effective lobby on central government
to provide needed supports and cooperate with local businesses and
workers to create conditions that attract inward investment without
compromising the rights of people to public services, or to decent pay
and conditions.

Sinn Féin is committed to keeping business
local. Uneven and under-development is a remnant from the previous
century and must end. All communities have the right to access that
which makes an area economically competitive: a well-educated
workforce, good childcare and healthcare, good infrastructure, fair
rates. We will use what powers are available to us – on councils, on
Development Boards, LEADER and Partnership Boards and on Ports and
Airport Authorities and otherwise – to support in particular the small
and medium enterprises less likely to relocate and social enterprises
especially. We believe that local business deserves fair support,
backed by fair contributions to the local community from them, to
achieve the common objective of sustainable local economic growth for
the benefit of all.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

The
same quantity and quality of grants and other supports to be made
available to indigenous enterprise as to inward investors.

A
mandatory penalty clause in the event of closure or relocation, applied
to all new agreements with companies receiving government grants.
Where legally allowable under current contracts for one or both parties
to alter terms, insertion of a new penalty clause. Otherwise, a policy
of denying future contracts on this basis to such companies and their
parents or subsidiaries.

An end to EU restrictions on state aid, particularly where such aid assists local economic development and regeneration.

Establishment
of a bi-annual state-wide forum involving all public stakeholders in
economic development, ensuring collective accountability, better
coordination and elimination of duplication.

Social and economic
data collected and published county by county to inform and enable
tailored needs-based plans for job creation, infrastructure and public
service delivery.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Engage
directly with local businesses, trade unions, farmers, fishing
communities and other social partners and use membership on City and
County Development Boards and Enterprise Boards, LEADER and Partnership
Boards and otherwise to ensure that councils do the same.

Propose
a review of the functioning and management of City and County
Development Boards and City and County Enterprise Boards with the
objective of making them more responsive to the needs of local
communities and businesses.

Propose that City and County
Enterprise Boards and Development Boards conduct a thorough review of
the barriers to local small, medium and social enterprises availing of
grant aid. Support schemes should be revised to increase employment
grants, stock grants, cashflow support grants, internal efficiency
supports, knowledge developments supports and remove the matching funds
requirement.

Demand and monitor government delivery on all local
transport, broadband, energy and educational commitments made in the
National Development Plan.

Propose the setting up of one-stop
shops to provide business support for small to medium and social
enterprise. These centres can be based out of local authority offices
and should involve all the main business bodies: Chambers of Commerce,
Enterprise Ireland, Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

Propose
to make unused IDA lands available for purchase by local authorities at
less than current market value (in many cases these lands were sold to
IDA by local authorities and state infrastructure has made them more
valuable) and for local authorities to use these landbanks to provide
low-cost serviced sites for local business start-up incubation units.

Lobby
Enterprise Ireland to support joint SME export ventures involving the
development and marketing of local, regional and All-Ireland brands
(ie., the West Cork Fuschia brand and the Homethrown Pottery network).

Ensure
full application of Retail Planning Guidelines and propose development
of a strategy to support retention of local retailers in local
communities, including the enhancement of local retail infrastructure,
to prevent the drainage of local small and medium retail business to
big superstores in city and town centres, or in retail parks on their
periphery.

Where there is identified need, make planning approval
for new retail developments conditional on provision of facilities for
farmers’ markets and expand provision for casual traders.

Support
fair rates and development contributions that help local authorities
provide needed services to all, but do not penalise local businesses
for a lack of central government funding.

Advocate funding for the establishment of community-based co-operative or other social enterprises.

Lobby for reduction of the qualification for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance to 12 months for all applicants.

Lobby
for a sustained supply of Community Employment (CE) and Job Initiative
(JI) places and to protect these jobs against cuts imposed in the
current recession.

Oppose privatisation of local authority
services, which ends up costing service users more. Where such is
already underway, ensure full cost/benefit analyses of public versus
private contracts and propose the review of existing contracts to
establish if they are providing value for money for business and
domestic users.

Ensure
that all council decisions protect workers’ rights including workplace
safety and the right to collective bargaining and that councils
themselves do not employ agency workers or hire contractors who do not
provide the highest standard of workers’ rights for their staff.

Education

Education
is an essential tool for building an Ireland of Equals. It is also the
engine for the prosperous economy needed to deliver this. Government
has an obligation to enable learners of all ages and life stages to
achieve their full potential through access to the levels of
curriculum, institutions and type of teaching and learning best suited
to support their personal success and hence ability to contribute to
the economy. Looking at our schools, however, no one would know this
is one of the world’s wealthiest states. Decades of underinvestment in
the education system have produced an appalling vista.

Our
primary schools are in serious debt due to insufficient funds. Many
schools find that central government funding Capitation Grants cover
only half their daily running costs. Indeed, 8 out of 10 schools must
now fundraise privately to meet their basic needs. Were it not for the
commitment of Boards, principals, teachers, parents’ associations and
local communities many schools would have to close their doors. It
will be much more difficult for schools to raise this revenue in the
current economic climate.

Approximately €40m per year is
wasted on renting run-down, damp and even rat-infested prefabs. These
are funds that could otherwise be available to invest in improving
schools’ permanent accomodation. Perhaps to hide the truth, the
Minister discontinued the School Buildings List which included priority
ratings and indicative dates of construction for the one in three
schools that have applied for help. More than a thousand school
communities now have no idea when or even if their school will receive
much needed repairs or extensions.

We have the most
overcrowded classrooms in the EU. The quality of education depends on
configuring provision to ensure class sizes small enough to enable all
to learn effectively. Yet persistently and increasingly large class
sizes stack the deck against most children. There is no viable option
but to invest to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio.

Too few
special needs teachers mean children left behind and denied life
chances. The only way children with special needs will ever achieve
their full potential in education is through early intervention and the
sufficient provision of trained special needs teachers. Yet children
have to wait approximately two years to access speech and language
therapy or assessment by educational psychologists. Almost nowhere is
the provision of special needs teachers sufficient to meet demand.

After
more than a decade of the Celtic Tiger, functional illiteracy remains
widespread, affecting almost one in four of the adult population.
Having an adaptable workforce equipped with the right skills is
critical to economic performance. Yet, almost one in three adults has
only junior certificate or less. One in ten workers has only primary
level, or no formal qualifications at all. This is not acceptable.
Where low levels of educational attainment are geographically
concentrated, the results for local economies are obvious. Poverty
becomes cyclical and generationally locked-in.

There is still
huge inequality in access to and participation in third level education
for economically disadvantaged young people. A truly prosperous
society demands that third level education should no longer be the
exclusive preserve of the wealthy, but accessible to all equally based
on ability alone. Despite increased participation in third level
education by students from disadvantaged areas, only one in five
children of unskilled and semi-skilled workers attend university or
college, while almost all children from affluent areas do so. The
fundamentally flawed grants system does little to aid low income
students. It comes in too late and does not cover the real costs of
pursuing higher education – much less the major economic barriers for
mature students, lower income groups and single parents: accommodation
and childcare. Economically marginal students get into debt, work too
many hours and under-perform at exams, or drop out. Hence the system
effectively confers continued advantage on those who already have
adequate means, confining others to either student poverty or exclusion
from studies. Reintroduction of fees requiring student loans will only
make this situation worse.

People pay taxes on the reasonable
expectation that educational provision will be covered and universally
provided to the highest possible standard. But the reality is that
local educational needs are simply not met by central government.
Contentment to remain near the bottom of the league of EU states on
educational spend will come back to haunt Government, hampering its
ability to engineer an economic recovery in these tougher times.

A
significant increase in local powers and local control over education
as well as funding and fundamental structural reform, are clearly
warranted as a matter of urgency for our communities and their
economies. Sinn Féin will campaign for this and in the meantime, where
we have positions on VECs we will use their limited existing powers to
the maximum in this regard.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

An
end to education budget cuts and a significant increase in public
investment in education to at least the OECD average (6% of GDP), to
eliminate the need for private fundraising.

No Public-Private Partnerships in public education, which have proved detrimental or disastrous in other jurisdictions.

A 50% increase in the School Capitation Grant.

Eradication of prefabs and reinstatement of the School Buildings List.

Reduction of the pupil-teacher ratio to 20:1 or less, as is international best practice.

Full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (EPSEN).

An
end to chronic underfunding of the National Education Psychological
Services (NEPS) and the situation whereby huge sections of the country,
especially rural areas, have no access to this service at all.

Reversal of cuts to provision of learning support.

No
reintroduction of third level fees. Part-time fees eliminated, the
number of third level places reserved for mature students increased,
social welfare recipients permitted to retain their benefits while in
full-time study and the eligibility criteria for the Back to Work
Allowance expanded – all of which will help enable low income and
unemployed persons and single parents to return to education.

Engage
with local teachers’ unions, parents’ organisations, student groups and
education providers to identify priorities and lobby the Minister for
Education to ensure the educational needs of all in the community are
met.

Campaign against education cuts and for significant
increases in investment in education, with a focus on ensuring
sufficient provision for local disadvantaged students.

Campaign for a reduction in class sizes and for greater provision of special needs teachers and other essential resources.

Keep needed local school building and remediation works under review and maintain pressure on the Minister to deliver these.

Oppose
the introduction of third level fees and support reform of the granting
system in a way that truly opens access to third level to students from
low income backgrounds.

Propose a state-wide review of VECs to
achieve standardisation of policy and any other reforms needed to make
them more accountable to and representative of the local communities
they serve.

Use positions on VECs to advocate a coordinated
approach between the VECs, FÁS and the third level institutions, to
ensure sufficient provision of local training for sectors that will
provide jobs in the coming decades.

Use positions on VECs to
ensure focus on tackling local educational disadvantage, including
provision of breakfast and homework clubs.

Use positions on VECs
to ensure an adequate network of local community training centres,
literacy services and back to education programmes that correspond
fully to the diversity of local need – including increased need as a
result of recession-driven unemployment.

Propose that all available public classroom space is optimally utilised at all times, ie. for out-of-hours training for workers.

Childcare

In
21st century Ireland, childcare is essential for equality and for
prosperity. It is crucial to improve early childhood education,
increase family incomes and lift families out of poverty by allowing
parents back to work or education and underpin women’s equal right to
work and to equal pay. State-led provision of childcare can make our
economy more competitive by reducing childcare provision burdens on
individual businesses and working parents. Moreover, childcare is a
wise public investment that could earn between €4 and €7 for every euro
spent. However, UNICEF has found that this state is bottom of the
league table of 25 OECD countries in its provision of early childhood
education and care.

Quite simply, Irish childcare is in
crisis. It is notoriously expensive and simply out of reach for many
low income families. Childcare costs are so high that it has become
known as ‘the second mortgage’. Such community-based childcare as
exists is now under threat by the central government’s new Community
Childcare Subvention Scheme. This ill-conceived tiered income-related
scheme is creating divisions between children from families who receive
social welfare payments and those who earn low wages. It is not the
right way to fund childcare and as a result many crèches serving the
community’s most vulnerable families have had their funding cut and
still others are being forced to close down. Many low income parents
now face fees that have increased or even doubled. Central government
has also completely failed to address the disgracefully low pay of
childcare workers in the community sector.

While local
government does not have direct powers or control over childcare
provision at present, councillors can ensure that developers provide
childcare facilities as part of their planning permission. All local
communities and economies have a vested interest in making sure that
childcare is available to all who need it. Sinn Féin councillors will
stand with parents and providers in making this demand and will use
their influence to ensure that local childcare needs are fully met.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

State-led
provision of comprehensive childcare made available to all who need it
equally as of right and funded by general direct and progressive
taxation.

Introduction of universal early childhood education and
care including universal pre-school for 3 to 5s and an afterschool
childcare system.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Engage
with City and County Childcare Committees through Council Working
Groups on Childcare in order to ensure the local authority does
everything within its power to meet the childcare needs of the
community.

Stand with parents and childcare workers to demand the
scrapping of the fundamentally flawed Community Childcare Subvention
Scheme and fight to keep local community crèches open.

Support
provision or restoration of core funding to all local community-based
crèches, to ensure equal access for all who need it to good quality
childcare.

Require developers to construct childcare facilities
in all new housing developments and transfer these to the ownership of
the local authority upon completion.

Propose that all councils adopt a Local Authority Childcare Policy.

Lobby
the Minister to remove all childcare-related barriers to parents
accessing VTOS and Back to Education Schemes, such as non-funding of
childcare during holiday periods.

Communications Infrastructure

Broadband
has become widely recognised as an essential tool for economic
development in the 21st century. Communities, businesses and
individuals without access to communications technology including
broadband will simply get left behind. Yet after all the years of
increasing wealth that was available for investment, this state still
lacks 100% broadband connectivity. Many communities, businesses and
individuals continue to do without. Indeed, Ireland is now the only EU
country where more people still use narrow band or dial-up.

The
state not only lags far behind the EU average in broadband rollout, it
also has some of the highest costs and lowest speeds in the EU. This
effectively penalises businesses who locate and remain here. It has to
end.

The so-called ‘Digital Divide’ is real: and it runs
along the standard axis of unequal regional development. The one in
three uptake in Dublin may not be impressive, but it far outstrips the
Border region at just over one in ten. The ‘National Broadband
Strategy’ has glossed over this reality by listing areas as ‘connected’
that in reality are not. Broadband black spots continue to blight
ostensibly connected counties and councils have played a crucial role
in identifying this deficit.

Despite growth there are still
problems with broadband access particularly in rural parts of Ireland.
It is common for people in rural communities to struggle to send emails
or even access the internet because they cannot get the service.
Rollout of broadband in rural towns, villages and outlying areas is of
vital importance to the future economic development of rural Ireland.

For
the same economic reasons, every school without exception should be
able to teach their curriculum through information and communications
technologies and every school must be fully ICT enabled. This means
providing and updating teacher training, equipment, teaching materials,
PCs and laptops.

While broadband access is available to the
majority of schools, most find their computers and technology are too
old to operate it. Broadband needs modern computers and networks to
operate effectively. It is simply a waste of taxpayer’s money to
introduce broadband into schools that cannot afford to replace or
upgrade hardware. More than 8 in 10 of our schools need a significant
proportion of their computer equipment repaired or updated.

Local
authorities exercise no powers in relation to broadband provision, but
that does not stop local councils and councillors from acting as
advocates for broadband provision to all in their communities.

Sinn
Féin understands that an all-Ireland broadband infrastructure is a
vital element for future prosperity. We support a state-owned
telecommunications grid and would prioritise investment in rolling out
broadband networks across the island. We support universal and
therefore equal access to broadband – for every business, library,
school and home. Our councillors will use all their influence to
achieve this.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

An
all-Ireland approach to ensure accelerated broadband roll-out so that
everyone on the island without exception has affordable and efficient
access to broadband.

A timetabled plan to ensure broadband coverage of and provision to all communities by 2010.

Better regulation to ensure lower prices and higher speeds.

An end to EU restrictions that prevent local authorities from facilitating and developing free access to broadband.

Broadband
services and technology labs for every primary and secondary school and
ICT hubs for each classroom, with adequate teaching and curriculum
support available to maximise the use of these resources.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Continue to monitor broadband availability in their local areas and push for 100% connectivity.

Insist
on inspections led by the Department of Communications to verify
private provider claims of connectivity where the local authority has
identified persistent broadband blackspots.

Propose mandatory
telecommunications ducting as a condition of planning permission for
all new significant residential, commercial and public building
developments.

Ensure minimum bandwidth of 7MB/s for all towns with populations of over 5,000 by 2011.

Propose a local public awareness campaign to promote and maximise broadband uptake by residential and business users.

Lobby
for central government support to pilot next generation broadband
schemes where existing broadband infrastructure supports this.

Energy Infrastructure

Energy
infrastructure and provision plays a crucial role in our communities
and their economies. Its availability and price are important
considerations for businesses and can make a difference in attracting
and retaining investment. The availability of renewable energy in
particular is more important than ever before. Not only will it help
protect our environment and therefore our communities and economies
from the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions from
fossil fuel-based energy, but it is generally cheaper. Consequently
increasing demand can expect to grow this sector, meaning local
renewable energy infrastructure and generation has the potential to
help stabilise and regenerate local economies.

Ireland
remains stuck below the EU average in renewable energy generation, but
with its abundant access to wind and wave power in particular, it has
the potential to lead. Moreover, the island is still dangerously
dependent on foreign fossil fuels. This leaves us vulnerable to
external forces and means we have little domestic control over pricing.
The agricultural sector deserves support for conversion to biofuel
crops where this is viable – and to a viable extent – as well as the
production of other biomass fuels either through pelletisation or
mechanical-biological treatment and the reclaiming of energy produced
through combined heat and power technology. Wind farms could provide
important sources of cheap electricity and local income for rural,
coastal and mountain communities. Wave energy technology remains in
its infancy, but is being pioneered on Ireland’s west coast. It is not
hard to imagine the difference a renewable energy economy could make to
hard-hit farming, coastal and other rural communities.

Renewable
energy holds huge potential for future job creation. It can reduce
energy costs for business and domestic consumers. Where generation
comes from publicly-owned local projects, it represents a potential
source of local public revenue. Of course, it can make a significant
contribution to the fight against climate change.

Sinn Féin
supports the development of a publicly-owned all-Ireland energy grid,
converted as quickly as feasible to a range of renewable sources with a
view to establishing energy independence and even export over time.
There should be state-led investment in developing the renewable energy
sector on an accelerated basis. We also support decentralised energy
production. Communities should be encouraged to become self-sufficient
in renewable energy production wherever possible. This will require a
combination of increased energy efficiency in buildings and products,
consumer use reduction and support for the development of local sources
and distribution.

Local government has no formal powers over
energy production, distribution and regulation, but it still has a role
to play. It can investigate the potential for and invest in local
provision by purchasing or providing public lands. It can set local
energy efficiency requirements on planning applications, set local
targets for conversion and provide preferential planning approvals for
renewable energy projects where there is compliance with all other
standards. Sinn Féin will use positions on local councils and all
existing powers to realise our vision of a renewable energy economy
supporting our local communities.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

A
reorientation of state policy and a timetabled strategy to plan for
total conversion to renewable energy and establish energy independence.

Significant
public investment in state-led development of the renewable energy
sector, including support for establishment of a publicly-owned
all-Ireland grid, decentralisation of production, community ownership,
agricultural conversion and conversion of other local rural and coastal
economies.

A state education and training policy, research and
development funding and planning appropriate to support rapid sectoral
growth in renewable energy.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Ensure
each council investigates the potential for local conversion to,
generation of and public investment in renewable energy.

Ensure
each council adopts a Local Renewable Energy Strategy for incorporation
into the local Development Plan and regularly monitors and reviews its
implementation

Ensure each council maximises use of indigenous
renewable energy such as wind, biomass and biofuel, particularly for
its own buildings and vehicles.

Propose preferential planning
approval for energy efficient developments and conversions and for
renewable energy projects where all other standards are also met.

Support energy efficiency requirements for planning permission in new builds.

Propose
and seek granting support for conversion and retrofitting of all local
authority-owned buildings, which could create significant new
employment for building workers and others made redundant by the
recession. Ensure the awarding of such public contracts to local small,
medium or social enterprises where possible.

Propose and seek funding for subsidised conversion and retrofitting for low income home-owners.

Ensure the council sources funding for and pursues priority investment in local renewable energy projects.

Work
with the local VEC to make free retraining opportunities available to
unemployed tradespeople to qualify them as energy rating assessors, or
in the installation of solar, wood-pellet, ground-heating and mini-wind
turbine systems, as well as energy-saving and insulation systems.

Work
with all relevant stakeholders to establish a local authority sponsored
programme to train, network and advise individuals and groups starting
up local renewable energy initiatives.

Raising the Quality of Life

All
public services, delivered well and delivered equally to all, can play
a crucial role in raising the quality of life for whole communities, as
well as the families and individuals within them. Where local
authorities have powers in relation to these services, they must use
them to meet communities’ real needs. But even in those areas of
public services over which local authorities have little power at
present, this does not stop local elected representatives from using
their influence to maximum effect to help improve delivery of essential
services and thereby raise the quality of everyday life for all
residents.

Despite a lack of local powers in the crucial
areas of policing for community safety, healthcare delivery and
provision of postal services, Sinn Féin elected representatives can be
counted on to take every opportunity to campaign for fundamental
reform, for local accountability, for retention of local access on an
equal basis and for the peoples’ rights that these services should
uphold.

We are committed to doing whatever it takes to end
the inequality in healthcare, policing and postal service provision
within and between local areas and to ensure that these services are
used to strengthen the fabric of our communities.

Moreover, we are committed to empowering local residents so that their own voices on these matters are heard by decision-makers.

Community Safety

People
have the right to feel safe in their homes and communities. But
between inundation with media reports and actual statistical increases
in certain kinds of crimes, people genuinely feel less safe than they
used to. Individuals and communities experience real insecurity due to
violence – whether that is linked to the illegal drugs trade, domestic
or sexual violence, alcohol-fuelled assaults and public disorder – or
‘anti-social behaviour’ which, although it may not be criminal, still
has the power to instill fear. All of these sources of community and
individual insecurity warrant effective and appropriate action.

Unfortunately
Garda deployment does not always correspond to the actual safety and
security needs of local communities and local Gardaí are not
accountable to the communities they serve. The rate at which criminal
proceedings are brought and successfully completed remains very low.
And indeed the Gardaí and the criminal court system cannot create safer
communities on their own. Local authorities and communities themselves
have a hugely important role to play in cooperation with and in
addition to the Gardaí, in preventing criminal, anti-social and
nuisance behaviour and in ensuring that local policing responds to
actual community need.

With the right policies, prevention is
possible. For example, most children at risk of involvement in crime
and other anti-social behaviour are easily identifiable. A recent
study by the Association for Criminal Research and Development found
that children living in deprived urban settings are at significantly
greater risk of becoming involved in crime and children from certain
geographical locations are thirty times more likely to end up before
the Children’s Court. In the interests of long-term crime reduction
and safer communities, local authorities must ensure that resources and
family support services focus on these areas. Indeed, planning
decisions – entirely within the powers of local authorities – can also
have an important impact on children’s and therefore whole communities’
chances. (See the section on Planning for more detail.)

What is Community Restorative Justice?

Real Justice for Victims, Real Justice for Communities

Community
Restorative Justice (CRJ) contrasts with the ‘punitive’ prosecutorial
justice system in that it involves victims and communities directly and
ensures that the offender actually confronts their behaviour and its
causes and takes steps to make up for the harm they have done. This
‘restorative’ dimension leads to much higher levels of victim
satisfaction with the process.

CRJ is not an alternative
to, but has the potential to complement, the prosecutorial justice
system. CRJ is not appropriate for some crimes, particularly domestic
violence, child abuse or sexual assault, but may be used effectively in
response to lower level criminal behaviour.

Community
Mediation Schemes (CMS) may also be employed to respond to non-criminal
nuisance type behaviour and neighbour disputes. CMS can help avoid the
delays and high costs that are inherent to the civil court system.

Local
authorities have no power over local policing. However local
councillors are represented on Joint Policing Committees (JPCs), a
mechanism to provide for increased Garda accountability at a local
level, recently introduced on foot of Sinn Féin demands. Though the
JPCs lack the full extent of powers originally proposed by Sinn Féin,
they nonetheless offer a new avenue for communities to influence
policing in their area.

Sinn Féin representatives will
work to maximise the potential of JPCs and to ensure that each one
provides a real opportunity for the community to directly determine
their local policing priorities including through the holding of public
meetings and the establishment of fully inclusive neighbourhood
policing fora at a more local level.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Change:

More
resources for crime prevention, in particular investment in
communities’ social infrastructure, parenting support and programmes
for children and young people at risk including juvenile diversion.

Strengthened
civilian oversight to make local policing accountable to the
communities served, including more powers to Joint Policing Committees,
their establishment at District level and sufficient resources for the
Garda Ombudsman Commission and Human Rights Commission to operate
effectively.

More resources for community policing and
civilianisation of Garda administrative services to make more Gardaí
available on the beat.

More resources for rehabilitative services
during custody and post-release, including probation services, to
prevent reoffending and to allow alternatives to custody for
non-violent offences, including restoration.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Fight to establish Joint Policing Committees (JPCs) in all Councils.

Use
their membership of JPCs to influence local policing, with a view to
increasing and ring-fencing the number of community Gardaí and juvenile
liaison officers and to changing rostering and deployment arrangements
so that Gardaí are on patrol in the locations and during the hours that
they are most needed.

Work to ensure that JPCs are sufficiently
funded and that all related monies available to local authorities are
drawn down in full.

Use planning and recreation decisions to directly contribute to enhanced community safety.

Continue
to promote the expansion of local community restorative justice options
and greater availability of community mediation services in the
interests of community safety and greater quality of life.

Ensure
all councils work with the Gardaí and local women’s support services to
conduct Women’s Safety Audits of all city districts, towns and villages.

Campaign for a coherent strategy to maximise Garda visibility in rural areas.

Demand
that all drug-related monies seized by Gardaí or by CAB are channelled
into community development initiatives in the area from which they were
seized, or whatever local area is most affected by the trade.

Work
to ensure that local councils, in particular Local Authority Housing
Units and Anti-Social Behaviour Units, work together with the Gardaí,
the HSE, education providers and the community and voluntary sector to
introduce real and lasting solutions to crime and anti-social behaviour
with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

Campaign
for a standardised council approach to anti-social behaviour and a
positive council policy of immediate action against anti-social
behaviour in parks and other public spaces including a commitment that
all graffiti and other damage to play-grounds, vacant buildings etc. be
responded to and remediated without delay by the responsible division
(eg. Parks, Environment or Housing).

Promote the introduction of
Good Community Agreements inclusive of all residents and other
stakeholders, 12 month Local Authority Introductory Tenancy Agreements
subject to appeal and robust eviction guidelines to ensure that where
eviction is manifestly necessary in the interests of justice, proper
procedures that comply with the European Convention on Human Rights are
followed by the Council, thereby reducing the vulnerability of
evictions to legal challenge.

Healthcare

Healthcare
is one of the biggest issues of concern in our local communities. It is
also the biggest single area of central government spending.

There
is general agreement that most healthcare services can and should be
delivered as near to where the patient lives as possible. The vast
majority of healthcare is provided in local areas at primary level by
general practitioners, pharmacists and other community-based services.
Yet current central government health policy appears to ignore local
needs.

The GP to patient ratio remains at just over half
the EU average and lower in disadvantaged communities, yet the
Government has provided less than 100 of the 600 primary care centres
promised. Cuts in HSE spending, including the recruitment ban, have
hit local frontline services hard and moreover prevented essential and
long overdue developments and improvements. The policy of
over-centralising hospital services has slashed services in local
hospitals throughout the state. Government privatisation of our health
services has created a grossly inequitable health system which provides
services on the basis of ability to pay or geography and not medical
need alone. To compound the injustice we pay double and triple taxation
for healthcare through private insurance and user fees.

Fundamental
change is warranted and it must be based on the principles of
excellence in care, equality of access for all based on need alone and
full democratic accountability for the delivery of services.

Ninety
years ago the First Dáil Éireann declared in its Democratic Programme
that ‘it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as
will safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical as well
as the moral well-being of the Nation.’ In addition it declared that
our aged and infirm ‘shall not be regarded as a burden but rather
entitled to the Nation’s gratitude and consideration.’

We
have yet to establish a healthcare system which applies those
principles of equality and which safeguards the health of all the
people, especially the most vulnerable. While standards of care have
been transformed and life expectancy for the majority of people has
improved, there are still major gaps, glaring inequality and widespread
inefficiencies. For this reason Sinn Féin is campaigning for a new
universal public health system for Ireland that provides care to all
free at the point of delivery on the basis of need alone.

Local
planning and local democratic accountability are sorely needed. Local
government should play a key role in managing healthcare delivery
because the people have the right to a say, through their public
representatives, in how best to deliver healthcare to them. Yet at
present our communities have no part in planning how healthcare should
be delivered and neither they nor their elected representatives can
hold the Health Service Executive to account. The role of elected
councils is confined to nominating members to powerless HSE Regional
Health Fora.

Sinn Féin believes there are few issues of
greater importance than the health of our people. The provision of
healthcare of the highest standard must be a key concern of our
democracy, including at local government level. Regardless of the
current lack of local powers over healthcare provision, we will use all
our influence as local elected representatives to deliver the changes
and the services required.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Change:

Replacement
of our current two-tier inequitable and inefficient healthcare system
with a new universal public health system for Ireland that provides
care to all free at the point of delivery on the basis of need alone.

Establishment
of new democratically accountable Community Health Partnerships (CHPs)
responsible for the delivery of all healthcare within their
geographically defined areas, irrespective of the border. CHPs to be
managed by a cooperative of local public representatives, service
users, advocates, health professionals and systems experts. They will
oversee the strategic planning and management of community-based
services and local hospital services. For the first time, local health
needs will be at the centre of planning and delivering local health
services. CHPs will develop comprehensive Community Health Improvement
Plans that both make best use of the health resources available and
also identify future needs.

Independent Patient and Carer
Advocacy Services within each CHP area, supplementary to a Health
Ombudsperson operating as a regulatory body for service users and their
families.

The retention and further development of the maximum
feasible range of services at local hospitals and the provision of
quality hospital care for all, regardless of income or geographic
location. A halt to the over-centralisation of hospital facilities,
reversal of cutbacks in services at local hospitals and a national plan
for the provision and resourcing of hospital care, including clear
access targets within an equality framework.

A network of modern
and accessible fully public Primary Care Treatment Centres run by
properly resourced multi-disciplinary and multi-agency Primary Care
Teams. Kickstart this process by completing the rollout of the promised
Primary Care Centres on an accelerated timetable. Appoint salaried GPs
to work in the Primary Care Teams and negotiate to phase-in salaried
contracts for all other GPs.

Pending establishment of fundamental
reforms, establish a Health Strategic/Municipal Policy Committee for
every local authority. Local and regional HSE management should be
required to work directly with these SPCs, including accountability to
regular meetings held in public. These Health SPCs should replace the
current Regional Health Fora.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Use
the forum of local councils and where appropriate our seats on the HSE
Fora, to promote equity and efficiency in healthcare provision and to
vindicate the healthcare rights of our communities.

Work with communities and healthcare workers to campaign for delivery of the best possible local healthcare services.

Campaign
against health cutbacks, including the HSE recruitment embargo and
against centralisation and privatisation of hospital services.

Work as effective advocates for individuals seeking their rights to access health services.

Call
for routine mapping and publication of local health statistics,
including death rates from diseases, at county, city and town or
borough level.

Propose local public information campaigns to
enhance awareness of local mental health and suicide prevention
services, campaign for necessary improvements and additional resources
to increase local service access while reducing caseloads on individual
healthcare workers and support more training in community-based
prevention programmes such as ASSIST.

Addiction Services

Problems
with addiction – to alcohol, to prescription drugs and to illegal drugs
– have become widespread in modern Ireland, blighting the lives of
individuals, their families and our communities.

Many
effective interventions are available to assist people to overcome
addiction, or at least to minimise its most harmful effects. Yet many
of these crucial services are not available in our local communities.
This means people who desperately need help sit on waiting lists, or
must travel long distances for treatment, or simply never get access at
all. Often the only service available locally is not the right one for
the individual, so people continue to go without. This is wrong. When
appropriate addiction services are not available it makes these people
even more vulnerable to the predatory drinks and drugs industries,
locking them, their families and communities into addiction-related
harm.

Sinn Féin has a long history of confronting the causes
and consequences of addiction. We will continue to campaign for a more
effective and holistic response to the drugs and alcohol crisis in this
state, of which the provision of full spectrum addiction services is a
crucial part. Local authorities can play an important role in
supporting the provision of addiction and other harm reduction
services. Our councillors will continue to use all their influence as
public representatives – including their positions on
Local/Regional/Rural Drugs Task Forces – to fight for delivery of these
necessary supports to local communities.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Changes:

Provision
of full spectrum addiction services (for alcohol, prescription drugs,
illegal drugs and solvents) for all who need them.

No more addiction treatment waiting lists. Treatment made available as soon as the addicted person is ready for help.

An immediate increase in the provision of residential treatment beds.

Extra resources to combat the growing problem of cocaine and crack cocaine use and addiction.

Restriction
on the number and type of outlets where alcohol is sold, the number of
licenses granted and the hours and days of sale.

Involvement of
local authorities and local communities in the liquor licensing control
process. Local Licensing Fora should include elected representatives,
statutory authorities, licensed trade representatives, community
representatives and other stakeholders such as those involved in
addiction services. Licenses should be awarded individually and on the
basis of good practice and subject to annual review for compliance
history. Group licensing should end.

A Local/Regional/Rural
Drugs Task Force for every area where need is identified, to include
representation of local elected representatives.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with addiction service providers to identify local service gaps and
lobby for necessary resources. Oppose funding cuts for services or for
Local/Regional/Rural Drugs Task Forces.

Call for provision of
local residential treatment such that users need not face unnecessary
isolation from their children, family or other social supports as they
recover.

Promote communication, coordination and cooperation between service providers and local communities.

Promote
and support establishment of local alcohol and drug-free social
environments including late opening cafés in all villages, towns and
city districts.

Ensure local sports and cultural facilities which
can support people avoiding or overcoming addiction are affordable and
accessible to all.

Advocate to ensure that no person attempting
to overcome addiction is denied accommodation, healthcare, or education
and training on this basis alone.

Engage with, support and lobby for adequate funding for their Local/Regional/Rural Drugs Task Force.

Work
directly with communities worst-affected by alcohol-related public
disorder and the illegal drugs trade. Lobby for increased RAPID and
CLÁR funding for proven effective prevention resources to disadvantaged
areas hardest hit and where individuals are most at risk.

Hundreds of
local post offices have disappeared from rural Ireland, mostly in the
West. In the past ten years, more than one in four post offices in the
state have closed and this trend is accelerating, with few full-time
offices remaining. These closures are hitting those in rural areas
hardest, especially older people who have to travel longer and longer
distances to receive their pensions.

For many people, the
local post office has acted as a meeting and contact point for
neighbours they might rarely see otherwise. Not only do these closures
deprive local communities of an essential service but they exacerbate
problems of isolation and the general decline of rural areas.

All
residents have the right to the same level of provision of public
services. If the state presides over the destruction of rural post
offices, alongside the downgrading of hospitals and transport and the
closure of schools and Garda stations, then it is failing in its
obligation to ensure that this is the case.

Without a
national strategy backed by local leadership, the local post office as
we know it is in grave danger of becoming extinct.

Sinn
Féin is totally opposed to the full or partial privatisation of An
Post, as it provides a vital public service and we are on record as
strongly rejecting the deregulation of the postal service. Public
assets such as An Post should be kept in public ownership and under
democratic control, with universal service provision guaranteed. Big
business is the only winner from privatisation and liberalisation while
society as a whole suffers through lack of universal postal services
and job losses.

There are many options for keeping An Post
and rural post offices viable, through the diversification of its
services. For example: providing door-to-door delivery of parcels and
welfare payments such as pensions to people with impaired mobility;
providing a daily necessities ordering service for elderly people;
combining postal services with council services to provide an insurance
and taxation one-stop shop; combining postal services with Business
Points; developing post offices as centres of community service
information for example on local transport and childcare; and providing
space for community activities such as community meetings.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Campaign with local communities to end the closure of post offices throughout the country.

Campaign to keep An Post as a public asset under public control.

Support the diversification of An Post to keep the service viable.

Propose
a Public Service Intervention Order to enable the subvention of post
offices in rural areas along the Western Seaboard region to ensure post
masters’ incomes are brought to the minimum wage as a matter of
priority.

Call for special funding to county councils as matter
of priority, to roll out the subvention and prevent post offices from
closing. Such an intervention should be a companion to an overall
reform package to enable postal services scheduled for closure to
deliver more social services.

Strengthening Equality and Diversity

The
diversity of our communities is their strength. But local decisions
and services do not always meet everyone’s different needs. Such
services and local power structures usually favour the majority, while
ignoring or excluding minorities such as Irish language speakers,
people with disabilities, people from New Communities, or Travelling
people. In the case of women, children and older people, they may not
be ‘minorities’ but the disempowerment they also experience is no less
real. This inequality does not just affect the individuals and groups
who experience a lower quality of life as a consequence of
discrimination. By ensuring these people cannot reach their full
potential or make their full contribution, it weakens the social fabric
for everyone.

Sinn Féin is committed to building an inclusive
Ireland of Equals. This must start at local community level. We will
use our powers and influence within local authorities to ensure that
all decisions are taken with a view to their impact on equality. All
policy decisions, all spending decisions, all planning decisions, all
service decisions should contribute to making our communities more
equal, not less.

Sinn Féin Will Fight for the Following Fundamental Change:

All
decisions taken by local authorities in the 26 Counties to become
subject to an ‘equality-proofing’ mechanism such as that applying to
all public policy and spending decisions in the 6 Counties – as
required under the Good Friday Agreement.

Local authorities to
actively seek the regular input of local women, children, older people,
people with disabilities, Irish language speakers, New Communities and
Travelling communities on matters affecting them to better inform
public decision-making and to ensure delivery of services that respond
to the needs of all.

Adoption by all councils of affirmative
action policies to redress underrepresentation of groups experiencing
discrimination in public employment and in the award of council
contracts.

Platform for the Irish Language

An Ghaeilge,
the first language of the nation, one of two official languages in the
state, still does not enjoy an equal place in our communities. Irish
speakers cannot access the same spectrum of local services in Irish as
in English. This fact and other economic incentives and realities
continue to favour English and put the use of Irish under pressure even
in na Gaeltachtaí. Despite the efforts of under-resourced Irish
language advocacy groups, there is still not enough support for those
Gaeilgeorí who want to use Irish in daily life, those with cúpla focail
who want to improve their Irish, or members of New Communities who want
to embrace the language in their adopted home.

There is
plenty of scope for local authorities to play their part in the
advancement of the Irish language in their area. Sinn Féin will work
with all interested others to help grow an Ghaeilge in each and every
one of our communities.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local Irish language sectoral organisations to identify priorities
and make local councils more responsive to their needs.

Support full implementation of the Official Languages Act at local level.

Propose
that each council adopt an Irish Language Promotion Strategy and
appoint an Irish Language Development Officer responsible for its
implementation.

Support the interests of local Gaelscoileanna and
stand with parents and teachers in demanding the retention of Irish
language immersion education.

Propose and insist on Irish names for new roads and estates.

Ensure
development of distinct Local Area Plans for na Gaeltachtaí, in
consultation with socio-linguistic experts, to both protect the Irish
language as a community language and increase the viability of these
areas.

Ensure councils use local arts and sports funding to promote Irish language arts and other activities.

Make efforts to improve their own level of Irish and to use it regularly in public business.

Platform for Women

More
than a century after the birth of Irish suffragism, women have come a
long way, but still do not enjoy equal status in our communities. They
are still more likely to carry principal childrearing duties and thus
earn less and have lower incomes at all stages of life. They are still
likely to live in fear of domestic or sexual violence. They face
ongoing barriers to higher education, to better employment and women
continue to be underrepresented in leadership, management and public
life.

It’s not just that women can lead. In our local
communities, women do lead. With more effective support from local
authorities, women could do even better. Sinn Féin is committed to
ensuring that all councils take more seriously their duty to promote
women’s equality for the benefit of all.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local women’s organisations to identify priorities, make local
councils more responsive to women’s needs and to promote the status of
women in all our communities.

Support the adoption and ensure the
monitoring of affirmative action policies to increase hiring and
promotion of equally able women in council employment and in the award
of council contracts. Highlight gender imbalance where it occurs on
all councils, Committees and Boards.

Ensure each council
adopts official policies and guidelines on domestic violence, in
consultation with local women’s support services.

Ensure all
councils work with the Gardaí and local women’s support services to
conduct Women’s Safety Audits of all city districts, towns and villages.

Call
for a review of the social housing points systems to ensure fair
allocations for single women with children, with priority for women
fleeing domestic violence and advocate for the provision of at least
one refuge in each county.

Support equal access for all to good
quality childcare, oppose the fundamentally flawed Community Childcare
Subvention Scheme and support provision or restoration of core funding
to all local community-based crèches.

Use positions on
Development Boards to support initiatives promoting women’s
entrepreneurship, including expansion of Women Enterprise Networks,
more aggressive promotion of women in rural enterprise and the sourcing
and granting of micro-finance start-up funds.

Ensure councils use
local arts, sports and community funding to promote inclusion of women
and also support the funding of specific local women’s groups and
women’s services.

Platform for Children and Young People

Children
and young people are the backbone of our communities’ future. Yet so
many of our local services don’t meet their real needs. So many of our
communities are planned in a way that interferes with their best
interests and best chances for optimal development. So much of daily
life at local level fails them and in doing so fails us all.

Local
authorities must bring the needs and best interests of children and
young people – an investment in our future – to the centre of all
decisions and plans. Sinn Féin will use our powers and influence at
council level to ensure that local government cherishes all the
children of the nation equally by paying special attention to the needs
of children from low income families and doing everything possible to
ensure they get the best start.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local children’s advocacy and service organisations to identify
priorities and make local councils more responsive to children’s needs.

Support
emerging leadership among young people through the establishment of
Youth Councils, to provide a forum for structured consultation and
advice to local authorities.

Ensure local development plans
adequately provide for schools and childcare facilities and frontload
building of community facilities relevant to children, with onus on the
developer.

Ensure that all development plans
for towns with a population of 1,000 or more include the provision of
one-stop recreational centres (including facilities such as a cinema,
bowling alley, swimming pool and youth café).

Ensure that all councils focus on the provision of age appropriate sports and recreational facilities:

For
children: a centrally located playground in each population centre
(village, pre-village/low order settlement and urban development).

For
young people: sports and recreation facilities including skateboard
parks and tennis/basketball courts, to be provided in existing open
spaces under local authority ownership.

Ensure that children
and young people from low income families are not excluded from
participation in arts, sports and recreation due to cost considerations.

Use
membership of Joint Policing Committees with a view to ensuring
sufficient support for high risk children and children from high risk
areas and increasing the number of juvenile liaison officers and local
diversion programmes.

See also all commitments under the subsections on Education and Childcare.

Platform for Older People

After
a lifetime’s contribution to building our communities, it is unjust
that in their older years many people find themselves isolated and
excluded from community life. Our villages, towns and cities, our
public buildings, transportation and thoroughfares – often even their
very own homes – are not generally designed to help older people cope
with decreasing mobility. Though their needs may be greater, many
pensioners still cannot access needed services or amenities because of
lack of available or affordable transportation.

Local
authorities don’t always extend older people ‘the Nation’s gratitude
and consideration’ as they should. Sinn Féin will use our influence on
local councils to ensure that our communities continue to respect,
include and make provision for people at all ages and stages of life.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local organisations representing older people to identify
priorities and make local councils more responsive to their needs.

Ensure all new builds meet universal design standards
to prevent the need for later adaptation by older residents
experiencing a decline in mobility.

Lobby the Minister for the
Environment, Housing and Local Government to demand that funding for
housing adaptations keeps pace with actual local need.

Support a requirement that all local public transport be made accessible to those with impaired mobility.

Take
action to secure the provision of more public buses in rural areas and
also support community-based rural transport initiatives.

Initiate
pedestrian safety audits of all cities, towns and villages, with a view
to ensuring safe provision for older pedestrians.

Campaign with
local communities to end the closure of post offices throughout the
country, particularly in rural areas, to ensure older people can access
their pensions without difficulty and to combat their social isolation.

Propose
provision of outdoor gyms such as that recently developed in
Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath (facilities including various pieces of
equipment designed to improve joint mobility, muscle strength and
increase overall activity levels in older people) and hydrotherapy
facilities at all swimming pool complexes owned or part-owned by
councils.

Use membership of Joint Policing Committees to ensure
policing better meets the security needs of vulnerable older people.
Support community-based voluntary schemes that provide vigilance on
behalf of and other supports for, older people living alone.

Ensure
local nursing homes are regularly inspected to guard against abuse and
neglect of older people in such facilities. Oppose staff cutbacks in
public nursing homes, which undermines quality of care.

Platform for People With Disabilities

People
with disabilities have come a long way in raising Irish consciousness
about and campaigning for their equal rights. But there is still so far
to go. Our communities still discriminate against and exclude people
with disabilities. In every local area without exception, buildings,
housing, transport, thoroughfares, education, employment, cultural life
– are all still generally designed for people without disabilities. It
is long past time for change.

Local authorities must do
everything in their power to end discrimination against people with
disabilities and to make our communities and local services accessible
to people of all abilities. Indeed, most local authorities have
committed to do so by endorsing the Barcelona Declaration on disability
awareness, access, policy-proofing and impact assessment. Sinn Féin
will use our seats on local councils to make sure this happens.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local disabled peoples’ organisations and advocacy groups to
identify priorities, make local councils more responsive to their needs
and make communities and all services more inclusive and accessible.

Initiate
accessibility audits of all cities, towns and villages as well as local
Development Plans, service plans and other strategies and ensure
planning decisions and expenditure concentrated on making all public
buildings, thoroughfares, services and amenities accessible for people
with disabilities.

Ensure each council has a Disability Access Officer to inspect planning applications.

Ensure provision for independent living within mixed tenure estates.

Review
the social housing points systems to ensure fair allocations with a
priority on equal access for people with disabilities.

Ensure
new builds meet universal design standards and require planning
applications to include a specific certification to this effect from
the Association of Building Engineers or the Royal Institute of
Architects.

Lobby the Minister for the Environment, Housing
and Local Government to demand that funding under the Housing
Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability and the Mobility Aids
Grant Scheme keeps pace with actual local need.

Support a requirement that all local public transport be made accessible to those with impaired mobility.

Ensure councils use local arts and sports funding to promote inclusion of people with disabilities.

Support
the adoption and ensure the monitoring of affirmative action policies
to increase hiring and promotion of people with disabilities in council
employment.

Platform for New Communities

People
from New Communities have much to contribute to our villages, towns and
cities – socially, culturally and economically – and are now a
significant percentage of the local population. Whether they have come
to study, to work or to seek refuge from persecution in their home
country, their arrival has breathed new life into many areas and the
best of Irish people have made them welcome and treated them as
equals. However, some have had negative experiences such as racist
abuse – from verbal assaults to violence. Some face discrimination or
racism by landlords or employers who seek to exploit their vulnerable
status. Others have difficulties due to a lack of planning in public
services or in targeted programmes that address their specific needs.
For still others, government policy puts up barriers to their
equality. For example, people seeking protection are not allowed by
the state to work or pay taxes and have no choice where they live while
they wait for a decision on their application, which can take years.
During this time they receive only a very reduced social welfare
payment of €19.10 per week. They and their children are consigned to
living on the margins of our society and in poverty, often under
degrading conditions shown to put their mental health at risk.

Local
authorities must do all in their power to make people from New
Communities welcome and to ensure that local services address their
needs too. Sinn Féin will show leadership on councils and in our
communities by promoting interculturalism, integration, equality and
meaningful social inclusion of New Communities and strongly opposing
racism in every form.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work
with local New Community led-organisations, intercultural advocacy
groups and residents’ groups in refugee hostels to identify priorities
and make local councils more responsive to their needs.

Promote
the inclusion of New Communities in local consultation and planning
processes, ensuring the representation of these communities on local
bodies and inclusion in decision-making.

Promote interculturalism
and integration in design and delivery of all local services and plans,
including necessary outreach and consultation.

Ensure all council contractors comply with labour laws and treat all workers equally regardless of status or country of origin.

Review
the social housing points systems to ensure fair and non-discriminatory
allocations based on need and ensure the council targets outreach
information at New Communities to increase awareness of their rights to
social and affordable housing.

Campaign to end the unjust
Direct Provision System. In the meantime, ensure local direct
provision refugee hostels are regularly inspected for human rights
violations and full compliance with applicable standards and their
management held to account.

Oppose segregated schooling.
Promote local education and childcare provision more responsive to the
needs of New Community children and their families, including targeted
programmes where appropriate.

Ensure councils use local arts,
sports and community funding to promote interculturalism, integration
and development of New Communities. Support funding of local community
projects either representing or specifically outreaching to New
Communities.

Use our positions on Joint Policing Committees to
ensure that all racist incidents are taken seriously and those
responsible for racist attacks are brought to justice.

Challenge
racism whenever and wherever it occurs. Promote the implementation of
Anti-Racism and Integration Development Plans at local level.

Platform for Travellers

Travellers
remain the most marginalised group in Irish society. Many still live at
the side of the road or in informal unserviced halting sites without
electricity, water, sewerage or waste disposal. In general, they have
significantly lower educational attainment than settled people.
Consequently, their incomes are lower and unemployment levels higher.
Poor diet and sanitary conditions means they get sick and die earlier.
Settled people generally feel freer to make derogatory comments about
Travellers than any other group, to bar them from hotels, pubs and
shops, or to refuse them employment or school places. Gardaí are known
to treat Travellers, as individuals and groups, with a heavy hand.
Hostility from settled residents often brings Travelling communities
into local conflicts and hate crime against them is not uncommon.

Local
authorities have an obligation to uphold Travellers’ rights as equal
citizens. Many social problems could be solved if local councils met
Traveller needs for accommodation in particular. Sinn Féin will use
our council positions to make this so and to ensure that all local
services also consider and meet Traveller needs.

Sinn Féin Councillors Will:

Work with local Traveller organisations to identify priorities and to make local councils more responsive to their needs.

Promote
the inclusion of Travellers in local consultation and planning
processes, ensuring their representation on local bodies and inclusion
in decision-making. Ensure interculturalism and integration in design
and delivery of all local services and plans, including necessary
outreach to and consultation with Travellers.

Visit and report on conditions in unserviced halting sites.

Ensure
full and timely delivery of local Traveller Accommodation Plans that
include a range of accommodation options including Traveller-specific
sites, mainstream social housing, Traveller affordable housing,
extension of the tenant purchase scheme and clustering in new
developments.

Review the social housing points systems to ensure fair allocations to Travellers.

Oppose
segregated schooling. Promote local education and childcare provision
more responsive to the needs of Traveller children and their families,
including targeted programmes where appropriate.

Ensure councils
use local arts, sports and community funding to promote
interculturalism, integration and development of Travelling
Communities. Support funding of local community projects either
representing or specifically outreaching to Travellers.

Promote ongoing and constructive dialogue between local Traveller and settled communities on matters of shared concern.

Use
our positions on Joint Policing Committees to open dialogue between
local Traveller and Garda leadership, to ensure that racist attacks and
other incidents are taken seriously and those responsible are brought
to justice and to develop appropriate Garda response plans to ensure
Travellers have an equal right to protection from violence internal to
their own community.

Challenge anti-Traveller racism whenever and
wherever it occurs. Promote the implementation of Anti-Racism and
Integration Development Plans at local level.

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